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research: Sustainable agrifood systems

African, Chinese stakeholders convene in Kenya amid call to transform food systems

Written by dmedina on . Posted in In the media.

The Africa-China-CIMMYT Science Forum in Nairobi gathered experts from China and Africa to explore strategies for transforming agrifood systems through innovation and cooperation. Organized by CAAS and CIMMYT, the forum emphasized the importance of collaboration in addressing food security, rural poverty, and climate resilience in Africa. Key discussions focused on the benefits of technology transfer and research partnerships to support smallholder farmers and advance agricultural modernization across the continent.

Read the full story.

CropSustaiN BNI Wheat Mission

Written by Julian Bañuelos-Uribe on . Posted in Uncategorized.

The Novo Nordisk Foundation and CIMMYT have launched the 4-year CropSustaiN initiative to determine the global potential of wheat that is significantly better at using nitrogen, thanks to Biological Nitrification Inhibition (BNI)—and to accelerate breeding and farmer access to BNI wheat varieties.

With a budget of US$ 21 million, CropSustaiN addresses the pressing challenges of nitrogen pollution and inefficient fertilizer use, which contribute to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and ecological degradation. Currently, no other seed or agronomic practice-based solution matches BNI crops’ mitigation impact potential. Growing BNI crops can complement other climate mitigation measures.

The challenge

Agriculture is at the heart of both food and nutrition security and environmental sustainability. The sector contributes ca. 10-12% of global GHG emissions, including 80% of the highly potent nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. Fertilizer use contributes to such N losses, because plants take up about 50%, the remainder being lost. Wheat is the world’s largest ‘crop’ consumer of nitrogen-based fertilizer—a relatively nitrogen-inefficient cereal—at the same time providing affordable calories to billions of resource-poor people and ca. 20% of globally consumed protein. CropSustaiN targets this nexus of productivity and planetary boundary impact by verifying and thus de-risking the needed breeding, agronomic, and social innovations.

A solution: BNI-wheat

BNI is a natural ability of certain plant species to release metabolites from their roots into the soil. They influence the nitrogen-transforming activity of nitrifying bacteria, slowing down the conversion of ammonium to nitrate in the soil. This preserves soil ammonium levels for a longer time, providing plants with a more sustained source of available nitrogen and making them more nitrogen-use efficient (nitrogen plant use efficiency). As a result, BNI helps reduce the release of N2O gas emissions and nitrate leaching to the surrounding ecosystem.

A research breakthrough in 2021, led by the Japan International Research Center of Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS) in collaboration with CIMMYT, demonstrated that the BNI trait can be transferred from a wheat wild relative to a modern wheat variety by conventional breeding. BNI wheat can be made available to farmers worldwide.

Growing BNI wheat could reduce nitrogen fertilizer usage by 15-20%, depending on regional farming conditions, without sacrificing yield or quality.

 

Incorporating BNI into additional crops would reduce usage further. Farmers can get the same yield with less external inputs.

Other BNI-crops

CropSustaiN will work on spring and winter wheats. Rice, maize, barley, and sorghum also have BNI potential. CropSustaiN will build the knowledge base and share with scientists working on other crops and agronomic approaches.

Objectives and outcomes

This high risk, high reward mission aims to:

  • Verify the global, on-farm potential of BNI-wheat through field trial research and breeding.
  • Build the partnerships and pathways to meet farmer demand for BNI-wheat seeds.
  • Work with stakeholders on policy change that enables BNI crops production and markets

Success will be measured by determining nitrogen pollution reduction levels under different soil nitrogen environments and management conditions on research stations, documenting crop performance and safety, breeding for BNI spring and winter wheats for a wide range of geographies, and gauging farmer needs, interest, and future demand.

Wheat spikes against the sky at CIMMYT’s El BatĂĄn, Mexico headquarters. (Photo: H. Hernandez Lira/CIMMYT)

A collaborative effort

CIMMYT is the lead implementer of Novo Nordisk Foundation’s mission funding. CropSustaiN’s interdisciplinary, intersectoral, systems approach relies on building partnerships and knowledge-sharing within and outside this research initiative. 45+ partners are engaged in CropSustaiN.

The potential GHG emissions reduction from deploying BNI-wheat is estimated to be 0.016-0.19 gigatonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions per year, reducing 0.4-6% of total global N2O emissions annually, plus a lowering of nitrate pollution.

Impact on climate change mitigation and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)

The assumption is that BNI wheat is grown in all major wheat-growing areas and that farmers will practice a behavioral shift towards lower fertilizer use and higher fertilizer use efficiency. That could lead to ca. a reduction of 17 megatons per year globally. This can help nations achieve their NDCs under the Paris Agreement.

International public goods, governance, and management

CIMMYT and the Foundation are committed to open access and the dissemination of seeds, research data, and results as international public goods. The governance and management model reinforces a commitment to equitable global access to CropSustaiN outputs, emphasized in partnership agreements and management of intellectual property.

Invitation to join the mission

The CropSustaiN initiative is a bold step towards agricultural transformation. You are invited to become a partner. You can contribute to the mission with advice, by sharing methods, research data and results, or becoming a co-founder.

Please contact CropSustaiN Mission Director, Victor Kommerell, at v.kommerell@cgiar.org or Novo Nordisk Foundation’s Senior Scientific Manager, Jeremy A. Daniel, at jad@novo.dk.

Additional reference material

  1. BNI International Consortium (Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences, JIRCAS)
  2. Nitrification inhibitors: biological and synthetic (German Environment Agency, Umweltbundesamt)
  3. CropSustaiN: new innovative crops to reduce the nitrogen footprint form agriculture
  4. Annual Technical Report 2024. CropSustaiN: A new paradigm to reduce the nitrogen footprint from agriculture
  5. BNI-Wheat Future: towards reducing global nitrogen use in wheat
  6. CIMMYT Publications Repository

Potential for independent performance information to shape farmers’ seed choice for hybrid maize: Insights from Kenya

Written by dmedina on . Posted in Blogs.

Maize production in Kenya is a critical component of the country’s agriculture and food security. However, climate change poses a serious threat to its production. Changes in temperature and precipitation patterns can affect maize growth, reduce yields, and increase the incidence of pests and diseases.

Prolonged droughts and unpredictable rainfall can lead to crop failures, while extreme weather events can damage crops and infrastructure. As the climate continues to change, it is essential for Kenyan farmers to adopt resilient agricultural practices and more adapted seed products to safeguard maize production and ensure food security for the population.

For decades, seed companies as well as governments and donors have invested in maize hybrid breeding. Dozens of new hybrids have been made available to seed companies throughout East Africa for multiplication and distribution. These hybrids are designed and tested to outperform older hybrids in terms of yield under rainfed conditions, to include tolerance to drought and pests.

However, the potential impact of these investments has been hampered by the slow turnover of hybrids among farmers. Research has shown that, despite the availability of newer, higher-performing varieties, farmers tend to purchase older, less productive hybrids. The ‘turnover problem’ in Kenya has been described by CIMMYT researchers in a recent publication.[1]

One of the constraints responsible for the low turnover of varieties is a lack of information among farmers on the performance of the newer products. Despite advancements in the development of new seeds and the retail infrastructure to reach farmers, neither the public nor the private sector is generating and disseminating information on the performance of different maize seed products across various agroecologies. Farmers therefore have choice overload but lack objective information on relative seed performance required to make informed seed choices across seasons and growing conditions.

CIMMYT conducted a field experiment to shed light on the potential influence of seed-product performance information on farmers’ seed choices. The study involved aggregating and packaging farmer reported yield data for some seed products and presenting this to randomly selected farmers at the point of sale to assess whether the new information would influence their choice of products. The study was conducted in Kirinyaga and Embu counties where, like many parts of Kenya, farmers have access to a diverse range of maize seed products from seed companies which promise benefits like higher yields and improved resilience but lack objective information on their performance which could support their choices, including when to switch and to what.

[1] https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0030727019900520

 

The experiment

The study was conducted in March 2024, at the onset of the long rain season. The research team collaborated with 36 local agro-dealers in five towns and surveyed over one thousand farmers.  Farmers were intercepted as they approached the agro-dealer outlets and briefed about the study. Upon consent, they were informed on the benefits of trying something new (experimenting with varieties) and  were offered a voucher for one free bag of maize seed to encourage them to try a seed product new to them. They then were randomly assigned to two experimental groups: treatment and comparison. Participants in the treatment group were shown a chart containing product-specific yield data on maize hybrids grown in their counties (see the chart below). The chart contained farmer-reported yields from the previous year’s long rain season aggregated at two levels: county average yield and the average yield of the top 25% of farmers who realized the highest yields. The latter demonstrated the actual potential of a seed product. They were asked that, if they wished, they could choose the voucher product for experimentation from the list but they were not required to. Participants in the comparison group were offered placebo information that would not affect their seed choice: they were given some fun facts about Kenya and agriculture in Kenya. We assess the effect of the information on the choice of the bag of seed they were buying with the voucher to experiment with.

Table 1: Product-specific performance information on maize seed products in Kirinyaga March-August 2023 *actual product names have been removed for this blog*

Before they made any purchases, the customers were asked about which maize seed they intended to buy. After purchase, they were interviewed again to find out which maize seeds they bought and how they had used the voucher.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What we found

Majority of the treatment farmers had a very positive evaluation of the information they received, indicating that they found it relevant and useful when making seed choice. Specifically, over 90% of them said that the information was trustworthy and easy to understand while about 80% said that the information was easy to recall. Over 80% of them disagreed that the list of varieties was too long to comprehend, the information on varieties was similar and hard to differentiate and that it was hard for them to choose a variety from the list.

This positive evaluation of the information is also reflected in their seed choices. Pre-purchases (before they entered the agrodealer store), farmers who were exposed to the performance information showed increased certainty in their choices and a higher inclination towards products listed in the product performance data, particularly the top-performing varieties. While 5% of the comparison farmers indicated that they did not know what to buy with their vouchers, only 2% of the treatment farmers suffered the same uncertainty. Such farmers relied mostly on agro-dealers to recommend a product they could experiment with.

As shown by the bar chat below, only 7% of comparison group farmers desired to use their vouchers on (or had an effective demand for) products which were the top two in the product performance lists. This increased to 27% among the information group farmers, representing an increase of 286% in the demand of top performing products.

However, although our intervention relaxed an essential constraint (product performance information) and increased the demand for some seed products, the actual purchases were subject to other constraints, stock-outs key among them. As a result, both groups showed shifts from initially desired products in their actual purchases. Even so, the treatment group maintained a stronger alignment with the listed products, exhibiting a higher likelihood of purchasing top-performing products. Only 5% of farmers in comparison group used their vouchers to purchase products which were top two in the product performance lists. This increased to 13% among farmers in the treatment group, representing a 160% increase in the likelihood of purchasing the best performing products in the lists.

Reflections

Slow varietal turnover among maize farmers in E. Africa is a pervasive problem and there is no one solution to it. This research shows that information on product performance can be an effective approach in bringing to the attention of farmers newer, more adapted and better yielding seed products. Dissemination of such information can be incorporated in extension programs, shared at the point of sale, shared through SMSs and WhatsApp messages, displayed in posters fixed in public places, etc.

The findings offer clear recommendations for future investments in seed systems development. These include the implementation of new product testing regimes to ensure quality and objectivity of performance data, testing what other information would be useful to farmers – beyond yield data, exploring new marketing options to reach farmers more effectively, and considering additional approaches to empower farmers with the knowledge they need to make informed decisions thus leading to improved agricultural productivity, resilience, and livelihoods.

Helping farmers access waterlogged agricultural lands amid prevailing food insecurity in Sudan

Written by Julian Bañuelos-Uribe on . Posted in Blogs.

In conflict-ridden Sudan, Gadarif State in Eastern Sudan is the most important region for sorghum production, with about 5-6 million feddan (5.18-6.22 acres) cultivated on an annual basis on large scale farms equipped with agricultural machinery. However, like the country, the state is covered with vertisols, clay-rich soils that shrink and swell with changes in moisture content, that become waterlogged and cannot be properly cultivated during rainy season.

To address the issue, technical experts from the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) are mapping areas affected by waterlogging in two localities, namely El Fashaga and El Nahal, to identify the most suitable lands to establish large drainage implementing sites integrated with improved crop varieties of sorghum. This work is part of CIMMYT’s Sustainable Agrifood Systems Approach for Sudan (SASAS) program, which works with farmers and herders to reduce their need for humanitarian assistance in conflict-affected Sudan.

“To address the issue of vertisols affected by water logging in Al Gadarif, the prominent agricultural region in Sudan, we used the map developed by ICRISAT in 2023 and consulted with local farmers to identify 100 hectares El Fashaga and El Nahal localities to improve drainage and avoid waterlogging,” said Gizaw Desta, senior scientist at ICRISAT.

Waterlogging is common on poorly drained soil or when heavy soil is compacted, preventing water from being drained away. This leaves no air spaces in the saturated soil, and plant roots literally drown. Waterlogging can be a major constraint to plant growth and production and, under certain conditions, will cause plant death. In Gadarif state, 2.3 million hectares and 1.8 million hectares of vertisols are under high and moderate waterlogging conditions that impair crop production during the rainy season, leading to food insecurity if not reversed with appropriate agricultural practices.

Experts evaluate the compacted soil. (Photo: CIMMYT)

“For years, my farm has been flooded by water during the rainy season, and I cannot cultivate sorghum as plants die of water suffocation”, said Ali Ahmed, a farmer from Al-Saeeda area of ​​Al-Nahal locality who is affected by waterlogging. “Alternatively, we as farmers affected by waterlogging were forced to cultivate watermelon instead of our main staple food sorghum. This shift in the crops we cultivate is hardly affecting our income.  I am glad that ICRISAT is working to establish drainage systems and address waterlogging within our lands.”

“At SASAS, we strive to ensure that farmers have access to fertile lands and other agricultural inputs. We work with our partners to address all problems facing farmers including waterlogging to help farmers continue producing their staple food and cash crops,” said Abdelrahman Kheir, SASAS chief of party in Sudan.

maiz

Helping Colombia’s smallholder farmers to leverage and preserve maize diversity

Written by dmedina on . Posted in Blogs.

In Colombia, maize is the most important cereal, integral to culture, tradition, and diet. In 2019, Colombia consumed 7.2 million tons of maize, a quarter of which was white-grain maize used for human food (the remainder was yellow-grain maize for animal feed, with a small portion for industrial uses). National production is concentrated in the departments of Meta, Tolima, Córdoba, Huila, and Valle del Cauca. Native and creole maize varieties—the latter comprising farmer varieties of mixed native and other ancestries—are grown for use in traditional dishes or for sale at local markets.

Due to climate change, socioeconomic pressures, and the out-migration of smallholder farmers seeking better livelihoods, native maize varieties and the unique genetic qualities those varieties embody are endangered. We aim to design strategies that benefit smallholders who wish to continue in agriculture and perhaps continue growing native varieties valued in their communities, fostering the conservation and production of native maize. CIMMYT in Mexico has already facilitated commercial linkages between chefs in Mexico City and tourist areas (for example, in the states of Oaxaca, YucatĂĄn, and the State of Mexico), sourcing blue maize landrace grain from farmers in mutually beneficial arrangements.

CIMMYT and local partners have launched an ambitious initiative to map and strengthen the value chain of native maize in the departments of Nariño, Cundinamarca, BoyacĂĄ, Valle del Cauca, and Putumayo to promote beneficial farmer-market linkages and better understand Colombia’s maize value chain. Carried out under the Nature Positive Initiative of OneCGIAR, the project is documenting maize conservation, marketing, and consumption to design a critical path that strengthens the value chain of Colombian native maize and benefits agriculture and the economy of rural Colombian communities.

Most native maize varieties in Colombia are grown on small plots for home consumption, exchange, and the sale of surplus grain. “The production is planned so that the percentage of sales is lower than consumption,” explains a farmer from Nariño. “Maize grain is sold in traditional markets, typically on Saturdays or Sundays, most often as fresh white and yellow corn.”

In such markets, farmers may also sell their grain to intermediaries, but only in the markets of Nariño is the sale of creole and native maize varieties acknowledged. Varieties include yellow Capia, white Capia, yellow Morocho, and Granizo, with Chulpe being less common. The grain purchased is used to prepare a variety of traditional dishes and beverages.

The most commonly grown varieties are intended for the market and probably the regional and urban cultural groups that consume them, such as in Guaitarilla, Nariño, where large crops of white maize are marketed through intermediaries and traders to satisfy demand.

“A variety that is not widely grown may become more prominent due to market changes—such as the rise of niche markets,” the research team notes. Good examples are the departments of Pasto, Nariño, and Cundinamarca, where maize is increasingly grown to meet demand from buyers of purple or colored maize.

We have already identified several possible niche markets for smallholder maize varieties:

  • Fair trade enterprises. They promote the commercialization of national products at fair prices for farmers, offering maize in various forms from regions such as BoyacĂĄ and Cundinamarca.
  • Restaurants. They use maize in traditional dishes, reinterpretations of Colombian cuisine, and culinary experiments.
  • Small-scale local intermediaries. Without a fixed physical space, they distribute products to end users and other businesses.
Callanas and ricota, Pasto, Nariño. (Foto: Andrea Gómez)

Significant challenges may hamper these and other possible market opportunities in the maize value chain. Farmers, for example, face high production costs, climate change losses, competition from neighboring countries, dependence on intermediaries for sales, and a lack of land. For their part, buyers struggle with obtaining consistent production volumes from farmers, lack storage infrastructure, and face postharvest pest and disease management challenges.

While they are compelled by the need to feed their families and, if possible, grow enough grain to sell for a profit, smallholder maize farmers have also expressed interest in preserving maize diversity and their cultural practices.

“We are not interested in growing monocultures for marketing; we grow maize out of love to continue preserving it,” comments a farmer from Nariño. Another farmer adds: “I would grow or sell more if the production were aimed at protecting agrobiodiversity, food security, sovereignty, and preserving cultural practices.”

Focus group with farmers in Córdoba, Nariño on the importance of maize landrace conservation (Picture Janeth Bolaños)

To understand how niche markets could influence the conservation and rescue of native and creole maize in Colombia and, at the same time, design a critical path that strengthens the value chain and promotes fair and efficient niche markets, CIMMYT and its partners are conducting focus group interviews and buyer-meets-seller events. The aim is to mitigate challenges highlighted by the actors and create beneficial conditions for farmers and consumers, promoting a better future for Colombian smallholder farmers.

We deeply thank CIMMYT partners in Colombia for their contributions to this work: Andrea Gomez, Andrea PinzĂłn, and Jeisson RodrĂ­guez.

Linking sustainable agricultural methods

Written by Julian Bañuelos-Uribe on . Posted in Publications.

While agricultural food systems feed the world, they also account for nearly a third of the world’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Reducing the negative environmental footprint of agrifood systems while at the same time maintaining or increasing yields is one of the most important endeavors in the world’s efforts to combat climate change.

One promising mechanism is carbon credits, a set of sustainable agricultural practices designed to enhance the soil’s ability to capture carbon and decrease the amount of GHG’s released into the atmosphere.

Farmers generate these carbon credits based on their reduction of carbon released and then sell these credits in the voluntary carbon market, addressing the critical concern of sustainably transforming agricultural systems without harming farmers’ livelihoods.

Two is better than one

Conservation Agriculture (CA) is a system that involves minimum soil disturbance, crop residue retention, and crop diversification, among other agricultural practices. Its potential to mitigate threats from climate change while increasing yields has made it increasingly popular.

Using remote sensing data and surveys with farmers in the Indian states of Bihar and Punjab, four CIMMYT researchers quantified the effect on farmer’s incomes by combining CA methods with carbon credits. Their findings were published in the April 22, 2024, issue of Scientific Reports.

Previous CIMMYT research has shown that implementing three CA practices: efficient fertilizer use, zero-tillage, and improved rice-water management could achieve more than 50% of India’s potential GHG reductions, amounting to 85.5 million tons of CO2.

“Successfully implemented carbon credit projects could reward farmers when they adopt and continue CA practices,” said Adeeth Cariappa, lead author and environmental and resource economist at CIMMYT. “This creates a win–win scenario for all stakeholders, including farmers, carbon credit businesses, corporate customers, the government, and the entire economy.”

Farmers would enjoy an additional income source, private sectors would engage in employment-generating activities, the government would realize cost savings, and economic growth would be stimulated through the demand generated by these activities.

Less carbon and more income

The researchers found by adopting CA practices in wheat production season, farmers can reduce GHG emissions by 1.23 and 1.97 tons of CO2 per hectare of land in Bihar and Punjab States, respectively.

The researchers determined that CA practices, when combined with carbon credits, could boost farmer income by US $18 per hectare in Bihar and US $30 per hectare in Punjab. In Punjab, however, there is a ban on burning agricultural residue, which reduces potential earnings from carbon markets to US $16 per hectare.

“More farmers engaging CA methods is an overall positive for the environment,” said Cariappa. “But convincing individual farmers can be a struggle. By showing them that carbon credits are another potential source of income, along with increased yields, the case for CA is that much stronger.”

While the potential benefits are significant, there are challenges to linking CA and carbon credits.

“To achieve these potential benefits, carbon credit prices must rise, and projects must be carefully planned, designed, monitored, and implemented,” said Cariappa. “This includes selecting the right interventions and project areas, engaging with farmers effectively, and ensuring robust monitoring and implementation mechanisms.”

Innovating agroecology living landscapes in Zimbabwe

Written by Julian Bañuelos-Uribe on . Posted in Blogs.

Local farmers have conversations with the CGIAR Initiative on Agroecology partners in Zimbabwe during the co-designing process. (Photo: CIMMYT)

In the rural districts of Mbire and Murehwa in Zimbabwe, the CGIAR Agroecology Initiative (AE-I) has embarked on a comprehensive strategy that places farmers’ opinions at the heart of interventions to tackle the multifaceted challenges of agroecosystems. Recognizing challenges such as pest and disease outbreaks, periodic drought, inadequate grazing lands, and limited access to quality seeds and livestock breeds, the AE-I team has initiated a collaborative process involving various stakeholders to develop tailored agroecological solutions.

This integrated approach emphasizes active participation and cooperation among agricultural extension services, including the Department of Agricultural Technical and Extension Services of Zimbabwe (AGRITEX), food system actors (FSAs), and technology providers. These organizations have collaborated to form Agroecology Living Landscapes (ALLs) to identify, test, and iterate relevant innovations.

“This collaborative innovation and ongoing co-designing cycle empower local communities and fosters agricultural sustainability, positioning Zimbabwe as a model for agroecology transition,” said Vimbayi Chimonyo, CIMMYT scientist and crop modeler. “With these efforts, the AE-I is improving current agricultural practices but also building a foundation for future resilience in Zimbabwe’s rural districts.”

A representation diagram of the co-designing cycle.

To ensure a well-informed process, the AE-I research team began its efforts by identifying dominant value chains in the two districts. In Murehwa, these included horticulture, maize, groundnuts, and poultry; while in Mbire, sorghum, cotton, and livestock. Challenges noted included production constraints (availability of improved seed and labor), biophysical constraints (water availability, increased incidents of fall armyworm), economic (market access) and social (agency).

Next, the AE-I research team, and the ALLs conducted a series of surveys, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews to understand existing opportunities that might address the challenges and aid in strengthening the value chains. The AE-I team discovered opportunities related to addressing labor shortages and improving access to improved technologies.

As a result, the research team introduced appropriate scale machinery, suggested seed and livestock fairs to increase access to agroecological inputs, established a series of demonstration plots to showcase technologies that improve water use, and increased mitigation efforts for fall armyworm. After introducing machinery, seed and livestock fairs, and testing the technologies during the 2022/23 season, AE-I returned to ALL members to discuss the impact the activities had on their production systems and determine if any modifications were necessary.

Participants suggested increased visibility of the new technologies and methods, so the AE-I team enhanced demonstration plots and added 100 baby plots during the 2023-24 farming season.

Integrating adaptive testing and feedback yielded valuable information from farmers, providing a strong base for further adaptations in the 2023-24 farming season. This continuous engagement promoted adaptive and context-specific solutions within the AE-I, ensuring that interventions aligned with evolving community needs.

Technologies being tested

To achieve the visions of each ALL, context-specific technologies are being tested to ensure synergy across the identified value chains and collaboration among different food system actors.

Technology/Innovation Description
Demo plots 2022-23: Twenty mother plots were established to compare the performance of cereal planted in, push-pull, and conventional practices on productivity, rainwater use efficiency, and pest biocontrol.

2023-24: Additional treatments, including biochar, live mulch, and traditional treatments, were introduced. One hundred eleven baby plots were established where farmers adapted mother protocols to suit their contexts.
Farmer Field Days Conducted for the established demonstration plots in Mbire and Murehwa, these field days showcased the technologies to a broader audience and acted as an agent of evaluation and feedback for the AE-I team.
Mechanization A service provider model was adopted to introduce appropriate scale machinery, addressing the drudgery associated with farming operations. Equipment provided included threshers, basin diggers, two-wheel tractors, rippers, mowers, chopper grinders, and balers. Training on operation, repair, and maintenance was also provided.
Capacity building Yearly work plans, co-designed by ALLs, identification of  training needs, gaps, and priorities. Facilitated by AGRITEX, these trainings equip farmers with knowledge essential to facilitate agroecology transition and fulfil ALL visions.

 

Monitoring and evaluation is a valuable component in the co-designing process where the AE-I establishes a feedback loop, engaging farmers and government stakeholders in participatory monitoring and evaluation. This ongoing exercise analyzes various indicators across different experimental treatments, providing valuable insights into the effectiveness and suitability of these approaches within the agricultural context. This continuous analysis leads to further co-designing of tailored solutions for facilitating the agroecology transition.

Farmers and stakeholders from AGRITEX welcomed and appreciated the co-designing process, as they felt empowered by the entire process. They expressed how it gives them ownership of the technologies being implemented through the AE-I project.

The success of the AE-I in the Mbire and Murehwa districts hinges on active participation and collaboration among FSAs. By continuously evaluating and integrating feedback on innovations and addressing challenges through context-specific interventions, the initiative is paving the way for adopting agroecological practices in farming, enhancing the resilience of local food systems.

This original piece was written by Craig E. Murazhi, Telma Sibanda, Dorcas Matangi, and Vimbayi G. P. Chimonyo.

Eight-year study in India by CGIAR and ICAR scientists suggests adoption of Conservation Agriculture can boost yields and manage an increasing carbon footprint

Written by Nima Chodon on . Posted in Publications.

Twenty-twenty four is set to become one of the hottest years on record. Warmer temperatures are destabilizing ecosystems, threatening human life, and weakening our food systems. On Earth Overshoot Day, CIMMYT calls for increased attention to the interplay between environmental health and efficient, abundant food production through sustainable practices.

Food systems are one of the top contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, accounting for one-third of all human-caused GHG emissions. While contributing to climate change, food production is also sorely impacted by it, undermining agrarian livelihoods and the ability to feed an increasing global population. Extreme and unpredictable weather is causing economic hardship, food and nutrition insecurity, and use of environmentally harmful practices.

In the Western Indo-Gangetic Plains of India, rice and wheat are the dominant staple crops, grown yearly in rotations covering more than 13 million hectares. But conventional tillage-based methods have been unable to increase yields. Some of these traditional methods based on intensive tillage have harmed the soil, exhausted aquifers, and increased GHG emissions, without raising crop yields. CGIAR soil and climate scientists and agronomists have partnered to find solutions that help increase rice and wheat production, while minimizing harmful environmental effects.

One of the CA-based practice research fields at ICAR-CSSRI. (Photo: Nima Chodon/CIMMYT)

At CIMMYT, we interviewed a group of CGIAR scientists who recently published a long-term study on sustainable intensification in the Western Indo-Gangetic Plains. Their work, conducted at the Central Soil and Salinity Research Institute (ICAR-CSSRI) in Karnal, India, demonstrates how integrating Conservation Agriculture (CA)-based principles into cropping systems can support climate-resilient and sustainable food systems.

“Today, agriculture faces many challenges, such as increasing input costs to maintain yield in the face of climate change and ensuring the sustainability of agricultural land,” said Mahesh Gathala, senior scientist at CIMMYT.

He mentioned that the collaborative research spanned over eight years, covering various crops and cropping cycles, and studying seven scenarios representing different farming practices. One scenario was based on farmers’ existing practices, while the other six involved combining and integrating the agronomic management practices and crop diversification options based on CA principles. The team collected data on yield, profitability, soil health, global warming potential, and fertilizer use, to name critical factors.

Gathala highlighted, “The findings are consistent with our previous research conclusions, while reinforcing the significant compounding impact of Conservation Agriculture-based cropping practices in the region, in the long-run.”

According to M.L. Jat, a former CIMMYT scientist who is global director for ICRISAT’s Resilient Farm and Food Systems Program, the CA-based measures that emerged from this research are applicable in much of the Western Indo-Gangetic Plains and beyond.

“Most of our research trials over some 2-5 years have provided substantial evidence in favor of Conservation Agriculture-based cropping diversification and sustainable intensification,” Jat said. “However, this study is one of very few long-term, collaborative research trials that provide strong evidence for policy decisions on resilient, climate-smart cropping system optimization to boost yields and nutrition, while improving soil health and fighting climate change.”

Other lead authors of the publication, Timothy Krupnik, principal scientist at CIMMYT and CGIAR South Asia, and Tek Sapkota, the Climate Change Science lead at CIMMYT, provided further explanation of important lessons from this eight-year study.

Two CA-based practice research scenarios at ICAR-CSSRI. (Photo: Nima Chodon/CIMMYT)
How does CA contribute to the sustainable and conscious use of natural resources? In what ways could CA be framed to governments to develop policies that do a better job of feeding us nutritious food while contributing to climate change adaptation and mitigation?

Tek Sapkota: Conservation Agriculture promotes the production of nutritious, diversified crops, sustainable yield improvements, climate change adaptation, economic benefits, and environmental protection. Governments can support these initiatives through financial incentives, subsidies, investment in research and extension services, and the development of supporting infrastructure and market access. This support further enables farmers to implement and benefit from sustainable agricultural practices.

CIMMYT and CGIAR-led projects in South Asia, like CSISA/SRFSI/TAFFSA, have already recorded some wins for CA implementation. What are some immediate implications of this study on CIMMYT’s ability to deliver this knowledge to more smallholders in the region?

Timothy Krupnik: The ICAR-CIMMYT partnership establishes long-term experiments, or living labs, across diverse ecologies to build trust among smallholder farmers, extension workers, and stakeholders. These initiatives aim to demonstrate CA’s benefits, as part of sustainable intensification. The science-based evidence generated will be co-owned by partners, through their extension networks, and shared with farm communities to highlight CA’s advantages. Additionally, the study supports reducing carbon footprints, contributing to climate change mitigation and sustainable agricultural practices and potentially used by carbon market players to disseminate CA.

Apart from climate resilience, could you explain what are the economic benefits of diversification in the rice-wheat dominant systems?

Tek Sapkota: Diversifying away from rice-wheat cropping systems provides significant economic benefits beyond climate resilience. It enhances income stability, improves resource use efficiency, maintains soil health, reduces production costs (such as irrigation expenses and water usage), and opens up new market opportunities. Diversification contributes to the creation of more sustainable and profitable farming systems.

How can CGIAR and national agricultural research and extension systems promote more widespread adoption of these technologies by farmers in South Asia and beyond?

Tek Sapkota: By establishing a multi-stakeholder platform for learning, knowledge sharing, and developing adoption pathways, CGIAR Research Centers could work together with national partners to create programs that support capacity building and knowledge transfer. Another crucial step would be to collaboratively adapt and customize the technology to local production conditions ensuring smooth implementation at the grassroots level. Additionally, it is important to encourage innovations in policies, markets, institutions and financial mechanisms to facilitate scaling.

Read excerpts of the full journal article: Enhancing productivity, soil health, and reducing global warming potential through diverse conservation agriculture cropping systems in India’s Western Indo-Gangetic Plains

Sowing seeds of change to champion Conservation Agriculture

Written by Julian Bañuelos-Uribe on . Posted in Blogs.

Florence Mutize’s thriving fields of maize, in Bindura, a small town in Mashonaland Central region of Zimbabwe, serve as living proof of the successes of Conservation Agriculture (CA), a sustainable cropping system that helps reverse soil degradation, augment soil health, increase crop yields, and reduce labor requirements while helping farmers adapt to climate change. The seeds of her hard work are paying off, empowering her family through education and ensuring that a nutritious meal is always within reach.

“I have been dedicated to these CA trials since 2004, starting on a small plot,” said Mutize. “Now, with years of experience and adaptation to changing climates, I’ve seen my yields increase significantly, harvesting up to a tonne of maize on a 30 by 30m plot using direct seeding and ripping techniques together with crop residue to cover the soil and rotating maize with soybean.”

Mutize is one of many mother trial host farmers implementing CA principles through the CGIAR Ukama Ustawi regional initiative in Bindura. A mother trial is a research approach involving testing and validating a suite of climate-smart agriculture technologies to identify the best-performing ones which can then be adopted on a larger scale.

Nestled in the Mazowe valley, Bindura experiences a subtropical climate characterized by hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters, ideal for agricultural production. But the extremes of the changing climate, like imminent dry spells and El Niño-induced threats, are endangering local farmers. Yet, smallholder farmers like Mutize have weathered the extremes and continued conducting mother trials, supported by the agriculture extension officers of the Agricultural and Rural Development Advisory Services (ARDAS) Department of the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development.

“Where I once harvested only five bags of maize, rotating maize with soybeans now yields 40 bags of maize and 10 bags of soybeans,” Mutize proudly shares.

The UU-supported CA program also extends to farmers in Shamva, like Elphas Chinyanga, another mother trial implementer since 2004.

Elphas Chinyanga and his son inspect maize cobs in their field. (Photo: CIMMYT)

“From experimenting with various fertilization methods to introducing mechanized options like ripping and direct seeding, these trials have continuously evolved,” said Chinyanga. “Learning from past experiences, we have gotten much more benefits and we have incorporated these practices into other fields beyond the trial area. I am leaving this legacy to my children to follow through and reap the rewards.”

Learning has been a crucial element in the dissemination of CA technologies, with CIMMYT implementing refresher training together with ARDAS officers to ensure that farmers continue to learn CA principles. As learning is a progressive cycle, it is important to package knowledge in a way that fits into current training and capacity development processes.

Pre-season refresher training with mother trial host farmers and extension in Hereford, Zimbabwe. (Photo: CIMMYT)

This process could also be labelled as “scaling deep” as it encourages farmers to move away from conventional agriculture technologies. Reciprocally, scientists have been learning from the experiences of farmers on the ground to understand what works and what needs improvement.

Inspired by the successes of his peers in Shamva, Hendrixious Zvomarima joined the program as a host farmer and saw a significant increase in yields and efficiency on his land.

“For three years, I have devoted time to learn and practice what other farmers like Elphas Chinyanga were practicing. It has been 14 years since joining, and this has been the best decision I have made as it has improved my yields while boosting my family’s food basket,” said Zvomarima.

The longevity and success of the initiative can be attributed to committed farmers like Mutize, Chinyanga, and Zvomarima, who have been part of the program since 2004 and are still executing the trials. Farmer commitment, progressive learning, and cultivating team spirit have been the success factors in implementing these trials. CIMMYT’s long-term advocacy and learning from the farmers has been key to a more sustainable, resilient, and empowered farming community.

Enhancing the resilience of our farmers and our food systems: global collaboration at DialogueNEXT

Written by Mike Listman on . Posted in Features.

“Achieving food security by mid-century means producing at least 50 percent more food,” said U.S. Special Envoy for Global Food Security, Cary Fowler, citing a world population expected to reach 9.8 billion and suffering the dire effects of violent conflicts, rising heat, increased migration, and dramatic reductions in land and water resources and biodiversity. “Food systems need to be more sustainable, nutritious, and equitable.”

CIMMYT’s 2030 Strategy aims to build a diverse coalition of partners to lead the sustainable transformation of agrifood systems. This approach addresses factors influencing global development, plant health, food production, and the environment. At DialogueNEXT, CIMMYT and its network of partners showcased successful examples and promising directions for bolstering agricultural science and food security, focusing on poverty reduction, nutrition, and practical solutions for farmers.

Without healthy crops or soils, there is no food

CIMMYT’s MasAgro program in Mexico has enhanced farmer resilience by introducing high-yielding crop varieties, novel agricultural practices, and income-generation activities. Mexican farmer Diodora Petra Castillo Fajas shared how CIMMYT interventions have benefitted her family. “Our ancestors taught us to burn the stover, degrading our soils. CIMMYT introduced Conservation Agriculture, which maintains the stover and traps more humidity in the soil, yielding more crops with better nutritional properties,” she explained.

CIMMYT and African partners, in conjunction with USAID’s Feed the Future, have begun applying the MasAgro [1] model in sub-Saharan Africa through the Feed the Future Accelerated Innovation Delivery Initiative (AID-I), where as much as 80 percent of cultivated soils are poor, little or no fertilizer is applied, rainfed maize is the most widespread crop, many households lack balanced diets, and erratic rainfall and high temperatures require different approaches to agriculture and food systems.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and CIMMYT are partnering to carry out the Vision for Adapted Crops and Soils (VACS) movement in Africa and Central America. This essential movement for transforming food systems endorsed by the G7 focuses on crop improvement and soil health. VACS will invest in improving and spreading 60 indigenous “opportunity” crops—such as sorghum, millet, groundnut, pigeon pea, and yams, many of which have been grown primarily by women—to enrich soils and human diets together with the VACS Implementers’ Group, Champions, and Communities of Practice.

The MasAgro methodology has been fundamental in shaping the Feed the Future Southern Africa Accelerated Innovation Delivery Initiative (AID-I) Rapid Delivery Hub, an effort between government agencies, private, and public partners, including CGIAR. AID-I provides farmers with greater access to markets and extension services for improved seeds and crop varieties. Access to these services reduces the risk to climate and socioeconomic shocks and improves food security, economic livelihoods, and overall community resilience and prosperity.

Healthy soils are critical for crop health, but crops must also contain the necessary genetic traits to withstand extreme weather, provide nourishment, and be marketable. CIMMYT holds the largest maize and wheat gene bank, supported by the Crop Trust, offering untapped genetic material to develop more resilient varieties from these main cereal grains and other indigenous crops. Through the development of hardier and more adaptable varieties, CIMMYT and its partners commit to implementing stronger delivery systems to get improved seeds for more farmers. This approach prioritizes biodiversity conservation and addresses major drivers of instability: extreme weather, poverty, and hunger.

Food systems must be inclusive to combat systemic inequities

Successful projects and movements such as MasAgro, VACS, and AID-I are transforming the agricultural landscape across the Global South. But the urgent response required to reduce inequities and the needed investment to produce more nutritious food with greater access to cutting-edge technologies demands inclusive policies and frameworks like CIMMYT’s 2030 Strategy.

“In Latin America and throughout the world, there is still a huge gap between the access of information and technology,” said Secretary of Agriculture and Livestock of Honduras, Laura Elena Suazo Torres. “Civil society and the public and private sectors cannot have a sustainable impact if they work opposite to each other.”

Ismahane Elouafi, CGIAR executive managing director, emphasized that agriculture does not face, “a lack of innovative science and technology, but we’re not connecting the dots.” CIMMYT offers a pathway to bring together a system of partners from various fields—agriculture, genetic resources, crop breeding, and social sciences, among others—to address the many interlinked issues affecting food systems, helping to bring agricultural innovations closer to farmers and various disciplines to solve world hunger.

While healthy soils and crops are key to improved harvests, ensuring safe and nutritious food production is critical to alleviating hunger and inequities in food access. CIMMYT engages with private sector stakeholders such as Bimbo, GRUMA, Ingredion, Syngenta, Grupo Trimex, PepsiCo, and Heineken, to mention a few, to “link science, technology, and producers,” and ensure strong food systems, from the soils to the air and water, to transform vital cereals into safe foods to consume, like fortified bread and tortillas.

Reduced digital gaps can facilitate knowledge-sharing to scale-out improved agricultural practices like intercropping. The Rockefeller Foundation and CIMMYT have “embraced the complexity of diversity,” as mentioned by Roy Steiner, senior vice-president, through investments in intercropping, a crop system that involves growing two or more crops simultaneously and increases yields, diversifies diets, and provides economic resilience. CIMMYT has championed these systems in Mexico, containing multiple indicators of success from MasAgro.

Today, CIMMYT collaborates with CGIAR and Total LandCare to train farmers in southern and eastern Africa on the intercrop system with maize and legumes i.e., cowpea, soybean, and jack bean. CIMMYT also works with WorldVeg, a non-profit organization dedicated to vegetable research and development, to promote intercropping in vegetable farming to ensure efficient and safe production and connect vegetable farmers to markets, giving them more sources for greater financial security.

Conflict aggravates inequities and instability. CIMMYT leads the Feed the Future Sustainable Agrifood Systems Approach for Sudan (SASAS) which aims to deliver latest knowledge and technology to small scale producers to increase agricultural productivity, strengthen local and regional value chains, and enhance community resilience in war-torn countries like Sudan. CIMMYT has developed a strong partnership funded by USAID with ADRA, CIP, CRS, ICRISAT, IFDC, IFPRI, ILRI, Mercy Corps, Near East Foundation, Samaritan’s Purse, Syngenta Foundation, VSF, and WorldVeg, to devise solutions for Sudanese farmers. SASAS has already unlocked the potential of several well-suited vegetables and fruits like potatoes, okra, and tomatoes. These crops not only offer promising yields through improved seeds, but they encourage agricultural cooperatives, which promote income-generation activities, gender-inclusive practices, and greater access to diverse foods that bolster family nutrition. SASAS also champions livestock health providing food producers with additional sources of economic resilience.

National governments play a critical role in ensuring that vulnerable populations are included in global approaches to strengthen food systems. Mexico’s Secretary of Agriculture, Victor Villalobos, shared examples of how government intervention and political will through people-centered policies provides greater direct investment to agriculture and reduces poverty, increasing shared prosperity and peace. “Advances must help to reduce gaps in development.” Greater access to improved agricultural practices and digital innovation maintains the field relevant for farmers and safeguards food security for society at large. Apart from Mexico, key government representatives from Bangladesh, Brazil, Honduras, India, and Vietnam reaffirmed their commitment to CIMMYT’s work.

Alice Ruhweza, senior director at the World Wildlife Fund for Nature, and Maria Emilia Macor, an Argentinian farmer, agreed that food systems must adopt a holistic approach. Ruhweza called it, “The great food puzzle, which means that one size does not fit all. We must integrate education and infrastructure into strengthening food systems and development.” Macor added, “The field must be strengthened to include everyone. We all contribute to producing more food.”

Generating solutions, together

In his closing address, which took place on World Population Day 2024, CIMMYT Director General Bram Govaerts thanked the World Food Prize for holding DialogueNEXT in Mexico and stressed the need for all partners to evolve, while aligning capabilities. “We have already passed several tipping points and emergency measures are needed to avert a global catastrophe,” he said. “Agrifood systems must adapt, and science has to generate solutions.”

Through its network of research centers, governments, private food producers, universities, and farmers, CIMMYT uses a multidisciplinary approach to ensure healthier crops, safe and nutritious food, and the dissemination of essential innovations for farmers. “CIMMYT cannot achieve these goals alone. We believe that successful cooperation is guided by facts and data and rooted in shared values, long-term commitment, and collective action. CIMMYT’s 2030 Strategy goes beyond transactional partnership and aims to build better partnerships through deeper and more impactful relationships. I invite you to partner with us to expand this collective effort together,” concluded Govaerts.

[1] Leveraging CIMMYT leadership, science, and partnerships and the funding and research capacity of Mexico’s Agriculture Ministry (SADER) during 2010-21, the program known as “MasAgro” helped over 300,000 participating farmers to adopt improved maize and wheat varieties and resource-conserving practices on more than 1 million hectares of farmland in 30 states of Mexico.

Visual summaries by Reilly Dow.

Unlocking Zambia’s maize potential through crop diversity

Written by Julian Bañuelos-Uribe on . Posted in Publications.

While maize is the primary staple food crop in Zambia, its productivity on farmers’ fields reaches on average only about 20 percent of what it could achieve with good agronomic practices. Some reasons for this inefficiency are use of traditional varieties, low fertilizer use, and ineffective weed and pest control.

Closing the gap between potential and realized yields would have major benefits for farmers in Zambia, both in terms of income and food security at the household and national levels. One possibility to increase maize productivity is by increasing crop diversity through the inclusion of legumes in maize-based farming systems. This could be done through intercropping, growing legumes in the rows between maize plants, or crop rotations and alternating maize and legumes in the same field from season to season.

CIMMYT scientists, along with collaborators from the Zambia Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI) and the University of Zambia’s School of Agricultural Science, set out to determine which cropping systems might lead to increased productivity for maize farmers in Zambia and their results were published in the journal Field Crops Research.

“There is great potential in Zambia to increase yields to help ensure food security,” said Mulundu Mwila, PhD candidate and scientist at ZARI. “We wanted to determine the cropping systems that offered the most benefits.”

Setting up the study

For this research, ZARI and CIMMYT scientists established maize-based cropping systems trials, comprising maize monocropping, and maize-legume rotations and intercrops under both ‘conventional’ tillage, and Conservation Agriculture, across 40 farms in a variety of agroecological zones in Zambia.  The team also conducted household surveys in the same communities hosting the on-farm trials to determine the share of households with enough cultivated land to benefit from the tested cropping systems.

Researchers found that the tested cropping systems produced more maize per hectare compared to non-trial host farms in the same region. The greatest positive effect uncovered was that maize-legume rotations in Zambia’s Eastern Province had the potential to increase maize yield by 1 to 2 tons per hectare, per growing season. “The Eastern Province trials showed better results because of stable and adequate rainfall amounts and distribution and because of using groundnut as a rotation crop,” said Mwila.

Researchers attributed the small effect of legumes on maize yield in the Southern Province to low levels of biomass production and nitrogen fixation, due to low and erratic rainfall, and to low residue incorporation because of livestock grazing. Conversely, the small effect of legumes on maize yield in the Northern Province might be attributed to the high rainfall amount in the region, leading to high rates of leaching of residual nitrogen during the growing season as well as the use of common beans as the preceding crop.

Finding the right amount of land

With evidence showing the potential benefits of maize-legume rotations, the availability of land is a constraint for small farms across sub-Saharan Africa, thus it is important to quantify the land area needed for farmers to implement maize-legume rotations.

“Our findings match prior research showing the benefits of maize-legume rotations in Eastern Zambia” said Silva. “However, implementing maize-legume rotations remains a challenge for many smallholders due to small farm sizes.”

Nearly 35, 50, and 70% of the surveyed farms in the Northern, Eastern, and Southern Provinces, respectively, had enough land to achieve the same level of maize production obtained on their farm with the yields of the maize-legume rotations tested in the on-farm trials. “With our findings showing increased maize yields, and our efforts to determine the amount of land needed for food and nutrition security at household level, the next steps can be to facilitate methods to disseminate this information to policy makers and to farmers that have enough land area to benefit from diversified cropping systems,” said Silva.

For farmers with not enough land to reap the benefits of maize-legume rotations, intercropping legumes within the maize has shown promising results. The researchers also call for further research to specify the contributing factors to small farms not seeing benefits from maize-legume rotations.

There’s an increasing interest for hubs in Mexico

Written by Julian Bañuelos-Uribe on . Posted in Blogs.

Walking methodologies for CIMMYT’s South Pacific hub (Photo: CIMMYT)

“We know about what CIMMYT has done with the hubs here in Mexico, so we’re trying to understand how this methodology works, what happens within the research platforms, in the parcels, the relationship between these two spaces, the technological menus, and how that menu is reaching up to farmers,” says Emmanuel Ekom, from the Ernest and Young team (organization which in the framework of Excellence in Agronomy, a CGIAR initiative) studies how innovation is rising in agriculture.

“We understand that CIMMYT in Mexico has been able to create an innovation approach that prioritizes the farmer. I came from Nigeria with my team, and we are delving ourselves into this approach to comprehend its functioning and see if we can replicate these brilliant ideas in several other countries of the Global South. So, we have visited many interesting hubs in all Mexico,” says Emmanuel.

“One of the most interesting things we were able to experience in one of the hubs was that the mayor from a small town was trained by CIMMYT staff. He understood what the agriculture conservation involves and had contributed to share this knowledge to his people”, mentions Emmanuel who also highlights the participation and inclusion from both private, public, and teaching institutions in the operation of the hubs.

“You could see their faces fill with excitement, especially farmer women when they were talking about how much time they could have saved if they had used the technology developed by CIMMYT and its collaborators. Such methodology is not only making life easier, but it’s also driving farmer women to increase their incomes and helping them save time so that they concentrate on other things. Just the same, I was able to see how the gender-based approach is coping with CIMMYT’s goal and that’s impressive”, says Emmanuel.

“I saw first-hand how the hubs’ function had made an impact on farmers lives, but the most interesting part was seeing both hubs’ managers and farmers get along very well. Every time we went to a parcel, our plan was to only visit one farmer but sometimes we ended up visiting 10 or 15, and the manager would go and chat with them. And I think that’s amazing”, says Emmanuel, for whom the experience of the hubs in Mexico will allow him to draw up the path to replicate this methodology in other latitudes.

This blog piece was originally published in Spanish. 

Digital solutions advance soil health for sustainable food systems and climate resilience

Written by Julian Bañuelos-Uribe on . Posted in Blogs.

Panelists at the “Digging Deeper: Advancements in Soil Health Monitoring for Sustainable Food Systems and Climate Resilience” side event, hosted by IFDC at the Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health (AFSH) Summit held in Nairobi. (Photo: Marion Aluoch/CIMMYT)

Farmers interact with soils daily, supporting the entire food system. Empowering them with tools for research and scalable learning initiatives is crucial.

Speaking as a panelist at the 2024 Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health (AFSH) summit, Paswel Marenya, CIMMYT senior scientist, emphasized the need to enhance farmers’ capacities to effectively utilize digital tools.

“Digital tools do not inherently lead to impactful changes unless they enhance farmers’ capabilities in managing soil health,” said Marenya. “The potential of a digital tool should enable farmers to shorten the cycle from receiving information to applying new techniques.”

Paswel Marenya, senior scientist at CIMMYT. (Photo: Marion Aluoch/CIMMYT)

Simple, easy to use tools

One promising solution is the development of user-friendly platforms that synthesize essential information from cutting-edge research into practical tools.

“In partnership with IFDC, CIMMYT is currently collaborating to develop an interface that synthesizes essential information into a user-friendly digital platform. This interface would be complemented by tools that allow for on-site testing,” said Marenya.

“CIMMYT aims to design digital tools that not only improve access to information but enhance the farmers’ ability to learn, innovate, and adapt. This approach promises real progress beyond more recommendations,” said Marenya.

This sentiment was echoed by Leigh Winowiecki, soil and land health global research lead at CIFOR-ICRAF, who discussed advancements in soil health monitoring and highlighted the Land Degradation Surveillance Framework (LDSF) which collects data on various indicators of soil health.

Leigh Ann Winowiecki, global research lead for soil and land health at CIFOR-ICRAF. (Photo: Marion Aluoch/CIMMYT)

Addressing the forum as the keynote speaker for the side event titled, “Digging deeper: Advancement in soil health monitoring for sustainable food systems and climate resilience,” Winowiecki showcased the global implementation and impact of the framework, noting its implementation in 40 countries.

“This framework is a field-based method that collects data on various indicators of soil health, land degradation, and vegetation diversity across landscapes,” Winowiecki said.

The findings from the framework guide practical interventions to mitigate soil erosion and influence policy.

Annie Wakanyi, director of partnerships & business development at One Acre Fund, highlighted how they prioritize farmers by providing high-quality inputs on credit, ensuring they are distributed near their farm fields, and offering training on usage, as well as assisting farmers in accessing markets for the surplus they produce.

Annie Wakanyi, director of global government partnerships, One Acre Fund. (Photo: Marion Aluoch/CIMMYT)

The private sector’s role was addressed by Jonathan Atkinson, Farm Service Unit Africa, who introduced the “cost to serve model” to understand the dynamics between costs and return on investments for farmers. He emphasized the need for practical, scalable approaches for soil health interventions that cater for commercial activities.

Jonathan Atkinson, farm service unit Africa. (Photo: Marion Aluoch/CIMMYT)

Professor Nalivata of Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources emphasized the importance of addressing soil erosion to achieve soil health in Africa using Malawi as a case study. He discussed policy implementation on fertilizer, promoting climate-smart agricultural practices and research as strategies implemented to address soil degradation in Malawi, calling for more initiatives like incentives for farmers and building human capacity.

“This can be achieved if we maintain a collaborative approach involving government, academia, the private sector, and donor communities to transform soil health and improve livelihoods,” said Nalivata.

Latha Nagarajan, SOILS consortium director IFDC’s USAID-funded soils initiative. (Photo: Marion Aluoch/CIMMYT)

Latha Nagarajan, in her presentation on the IFDC’s USAID-funded soils initiative, highlighted how the initiative improves livelihoods through innovative soil management. She explained the ‘space to place’ approach, which integrates spatial remote sensing data with place-specific soil health data to enhance soil management decisions, increasing efficiency, resilience, and sustainability.

Experts discuss strategies to address soil health challenges and the fertilizer crisis in Africa

Written by Julian Bañuelos-Uribe on . Posted in Blogs.

Group photo of the panelists at the AFSH Summit in Nairobi (Photo: Marion Aluoch)

Improving soil health is critical to sustainable agriculture, and for addressing climate change, tackling environmental challenges, and enhancing food security. Through projects by CIMMYT and partners, potential scalable solutions are under development, but additional work is still required.

“To effectively scale up soil health initiatives, we need to prioritize investments and establish a framework that maximizes returns,” said Bram Govaerts, CIMMYT director general, during the 2024 Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health (AFSH) Summit in Nairobi, Kenya. “It is crucial to use simple, quantifiable indicators for systematic assessments and decision-making, and to broaden these indicators to foster investment from public, private, and civil actors.”

As a keynote speaker in the “Strategies to Foster Africa’s Resilience to the Global Fertilizer Crisis” parallel session, Govaerts highlighted the intertwined challenges of soil health and fertilizer accessibility. “95% of our food comes from the soil, yet in 14 countries the cost of fertilizer has more than doubled. Fertilizers contribute to 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions and are often mismanaged—overused in some regions and underutilized in others.”

The transition to a more sustainable and climate-resilient approach to soil health and fertilizer use requires a comprehensive structure that considers broader aspects of agricultural sustainability. “To enhance soil health effectively, a clear framework is necessary that includes investment prioritization, integrated soil management, extension and advisory services, and the utilization of data and technology,” Govaerts added.

This recommended framework included identifying and prioritizing investment opportunities, balancing organic and inorganic inputs, strengthening extension systems, and leveraging technology to provide farmers real-time advice.

One practical example of effective soil health management in practice is CIMMYT’s Southern Africa Accelerated Innovation Delivery Initiative (AID-I) Rapid Delivery Hub. The project helps farmers cope with high fuel and fertilizer prices by providing them with innovative tools and information to manage cost and supply disruptions. This addresses systemic weaknesses in agriculture by accelerating market-based delivery of improved seed, fertilizer, and critical information to farmers.

“Under AID-I, rapid soil testing has been prioritized. Collaborating with the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) and mobile soil labs like those in Zambia exemplify innovative data point collection strategies,” said Govaerts.

During the panel discussion, Anne Muriuki, principal research officer at the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) highlighted the key challenges that African countries face in accessing fertilizers during global crises and the impact on agricultural productivity. “Farmers face scarcity and high costs, leading to reduced yields and increased reliance on unsustainable fertilizers. These issues not only reduce agricultural productivity, but they also aggravate food insecurity and economic instability.”

David Nielsen, a former World Bank official, stressed the importance of having site-specific soil information and investing in human capital and educational institutions to increase soil science expertise and improve the availability of site-specific information. “These two issues should be high priorities. They are crucial, especially when fertilizer access is limited, but they remain vital even with adequate fertilizer supply.”

Douglas Kerr, vice president of business development at the IFDC discussed how governments, international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and the private sector can collaborate to ensure continuous access to fertilizer during a global crisis. The Sustain African Program was an example of IFDC’s role in gathering market information and developing a concept that has since been integrated into ongoing operations. “In a nutshell, multi-stakeholder collaboration needs to be open, transparent, supportive, and unified.”

Charlotte Hebebrand, director of communications and public affairs at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), emphasized the need to increase fertilizer production within Africa, improve access to markets, and address response constraints to reduce shocks. “A major focus is on repurposing subsidies. It is sensitive but critical to determine the most efficient way to support farmers and promote soil health.”

Mehti Filali, senior vice president of OCP in West Africa, highlighted successful case studies from Ethiopia and Nigeria, where domestic initiatives and regional cooperation have resulted in significant agricultural growth. “Ethiopia has doubled crop production and created tailored fertilizer formulas, while Nigeria’s initiative has consolidated fertilizer procurement, created jobs, and saved US $250 million in foreign exchange. OCP’s contribution, though modest, has been critical, marked by significant milestones such as soil testing and the development of blending units.”

As Africa continues to face these challenges, the response must be dynamic, drawing on both local knowledge and scientific data. Robust data governance is essential for integrating soil health into market-driven decision-making, promoting crop diversification, and integrating organic and inorganic inputs for sustainable agriculture. “Let us remember the importance of integrating soil fertility management in a step-by-step manner, prioritizing action tailored to specific locations and conditions. Sophisticated extension systems, backed up by robust data, are crucial,” Govaerts concluded.