Jason Donovan is a senior economist at CIMMYT with a focus on markets and value chains. His main research interests are rural livelihoods, agricultural markets, food systems and agribusiness development. He leads research in Mexico and East Africa on private-sector engagement in maize seed systems and the related implications for farmers, nongovernmental organizations and government agencies.
He has worked extensively in Central America and the Andes region, with additional experience in Brazil, Malawi, Ghana and Kenya. His recent contributions to the debate on markets and rural poverty include the book “Innovation for Inclusive Value Chain Development” and “Value Chains as Complex Systems,” a special edition of the Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies.
Since 2014, Jason has edited the journal Enterprise Development and Microfinance for the UK-based Practical Action Publishing. Prior to joining CIMMYT, Jason worked with the World Agroforestry Centre and The Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center.
David Hodson is a Senior Scientist with CIMMYT. He has over 20 years of experience executing and managing GIS-related projects and programs for agricultural research and development in developing countries.
For the last 10 years he has worked on developing and coordinating a Global Wheat Rust Monitoring System in response to the threat posed by wheat stem rust Ug99. The wheat rust monitoring system now covers approximately 40 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. He also coordinates a surveillance system for Maize Lethal Necrosis in Eastern and Southern Africa.
In addition, Hodson is involved in projects using advanced modeling for wheat rust early warning, and also on improved pathogen and host diagnostics using molecular tools. His research focuses on the surveillance and monitoring of emerging cereal disease threats and the application of geo-spatial technology for improved decision support.
Timothy Krupnik has worked in agricultural research for development in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and the Caribbean. At CIMMYT, he leads a multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural research team that comprises the Sustainable Agrifood Systems programâs Innovation Sciences in Agroecosystems and Food Systems theme across Asia.
This team spans disciplines and brings together technical skills ranging from systems agronomy, remote sensing, socioeconomics, climatology, agricultural engineering, and modeling and data science. The teamâs research generates real-world impact by addressing key knowledge gaps, developing tools, and facilitating partnerships that increase productivity, sustainability and resilience in the context of the regionâs biophysical, economic, and sociocultural diversity.
Krupnik has published over 120 peer-reviewed papers, policy briefs, chapters and books, and has led the development of numerous extension modules, decision support tools, and early warning systems.
Kai Sonder is currently the Geographic Information System (GIS) Laboratory Manager. The unit provides spatial data and analysis, targeting and foresight work and agro meteorology to the organization. It also provides training on GIS to all of CIMMYT’s scientists and projects, as well as partners applied to development-oriented agricultural research on maize, wheat and conservation agriculture in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
As part of the efforts of the Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture (MasAgro) program aimed at improving food security based on maize landraces in marginal areas of the state of Oaxaca, Mexico, a workshop on trial design was held from 19-21 February to improve the precision of data on improved maize landraces in smallholder farmersâ fields. Attending the workshop were partners from the National Forestry, Agriculture and Livestock Research Institute (INIFAP) and the Southern Regional University Center of the Autonomous University of Chapingo (UACh).
The objective was to continue to have positive impacts on the marginalized communities of Oaxaca, by adapting to the hillside conditions and poor, uneven and broken up soils that often characterize the plots of farmers who grow maize landraces. The very varied trial designs in farmersâ fields, plus the varied population structure of maize landraces make it difficult for scientists to create efficient designs.
The training workshop was led by Dr. Martha Willcox, CIMMYT Maize Landrace program, and designed by Dr. Juan Burgueño and Mr. Claudio Ayala, who sought to facilitate breeding research in smallholder farmersâ fields and to continue to work for the benefit of more than 400 Oaxacan farmers. The projectâs multi-disciplinary base includes genetic improvement, agronomic management and biostatistics in order to generate greater value and scientifically confirm the benefits that are being achieved in the fields of the countryâs poorest farmers.
It should be noted that during the four years that MasAgro has worked on participatory breeding (2014-2017), INIFAP, UACh and CIMMYT have found that in marginalized communities, maize landraces with the characteristics mentioned above not only yield more, but also generate higher returns on investments, which benefits farmers. Smallholder farmers grow maize in many ecological niches outside the areas most favorable for intensive commercial agriculture and in areas where hybrid improvement programs have not been introduced or worked due to the extreme conditions, including fog, drought and disease. Maize landraces are better adapted to those areas and have the culinary qualities needed to make every-day and festive local dishes.
In addition, not only has maize production for home consumption improved, but farmers are now linked to gastronomic markets. During project years and with its help, maize began to be exported, with 10,000 kilograms exported in 2014 and more than 900,000 kg exported in 2017.
In the last decade, the climate of Africa has been changing in dramatic ways. Many regions face unpredictable levels of rainfall, which can lead both droughts and severe flooding. Sub-Saharan Africa is the only region in the world with over 30 percent of children under five facing stunting â severe malnutrition, and is the only region where the rate of undernourished people has consistently increased.
Maize is a vital staple cash and sustenance crop in most of Africa, and legumes provide nutrition, income and improve soil fertility. However, farmersâ yields are suffering due to declining soil fertility, drought and poor access to improved technologies.
Over the last eight years, SIMLESA has developed productive, resilient and sustainable smallholder maize-legume cropping systems. SIMLESA focuses on improving maize-legume cropping systems by encouraging the adoption of sustainable agriculture systems through conservation agriculture practices such as crop residue retention, crop rotation and intercropping practices to simultaneously maintain and boost yields, increase proïŹts and protect the environment.
Recently, Elliud Kireger, director general of the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), Mulugetta Mekuria Asfaw, SIMLESA project leader and Daniel Rodriguez, associate professor, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI) The University of Queensland, wrote a joint opinion piece âAfrica: Science Can Reverse ‘New Normal’ of Hunger and Climate Disasterâ in All Africa on the impacts of SIMLESA, read it here.
The Sustainable IntensiïŹcation of Maize-Legume Cropping Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) programis funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).
The project, titled âAppropriate Mechanization for Sustainable Intensification of Smallholder Farming in Ethiopia,â aims to increase soil fertility through direct row planting of major crops in Ethiopia, such as maize, wheat and teff. However, they identified in their pilot phase that the necessary infrastructure and supply chains were not in place to ensure project sustainability and that the involvement of the private sector would be necessary.
Therefore, the project in its second phase focused on these critical activities, especially increasing capacity of service providers to deliver services and manage their businesses, and mechanics who closely support service providers in their daily business. Mechanics work with the local spare parts representatives identified by AMIO Engineering Plc, a local private sector partner in manufacturing and dealer of small scale agriculture technologies and machinery, to ensure that the fast moving and critical parts are always available in stock at their local warehouses.
In October 2017, two trainings were conducted at the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) in Melkassa.
The first training was organized for selected mechanics by AMIO and CIMMYT with funding from the Integrated Soil Fertility Management program (ISFM), part of the German Cooperation for International Development Agency (GIZ). The one-week training covered the use and function as well as maintenance, repair and spare parts of the two-wheel tractor (2WT).
The second training, intended for service providers (SPs), focused on capacity building and quality development of small-scale mechanization services. The 44 SPs in attendance were encouraged to exchange individual experiences and expertise about service provision businesses, technical challenges in the field and the extent of potential business opportunities.
These trainings specifically focused on the use, operation, maintenance and safety of the 2WT and its ancillaries, as with correct aggregation almost all farming tasks can be accomplished with a single machine. The use of a 2WT for these tasks reduces both the time required to establish a crop and the chore of the task, by increasing productivity of both labor and crops.
Economic assessments show that mechanized planting using a 2WT is an economically viable and attractive option for both farmers and SPs. This is especially true when services offered include full use of 2WT and attachments; as these services are useful 365 days a year.
After farmers see these technologies, they are often interested in purchasing the services associated with the equipment and service providers frequently asked to procure additional equipment.
In order to achieve the aim of increased soil fertility through direct row planting of major crops in Ethiopia, the project selected six micro-watersheds in January 2016 that corresponded to ISFM intervention sites to test the delivery of small mechanization through service provision. The sites are located in the regions of Amhara, Oromia and Tigray.
The project imported six equipment packages from China for mechanized crop establishment, harvesting of small grain cereals and water pumping. These machines were loaned to individual service providers in Oromia and Tigray, and to a farmers group in Amhara. In addition, EIAR locally manufactured six trailers and three threshers which have been be dispatched to service providers.
Furthermore, in this second phase, the GIZ-ISFM through CIMMYT with Ethiopiaâs Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources (MoANR) dispatched 100 units of 2WT with plows, and an additional 15 trailers and 18 direct row planters that can be attached.
Based on encouraging results, the second phase of the project will focus on establishing viable, private sector-based input delivery mechanisms (maintenance and repair services, spare parts, and new equipment) and generating sufficient demand for self-sustained scaling-out processes.
A new publication suggests strategies to improve rural women’s access to agricultural machinery. Photo: CIMMYT/ Martin Ranak
A new research note published for International Women’s Day, details current gender gaps in rural mechanization in Bangladesh, and outlines plans to overcome these challenges.
Using simple technologies, such as multi-crop reaper-harvesters can reduce the time farmers spend harvesting by up to 80 percent and can reduce the costs of hiring field labor by up to 60 percent. The problem is that women may face cultural constraints to working in the field, running machinery service provision businesses, and do not have equal access to financing, which is a huge barrier, as the technologies can cost $500-2000 up front.
The authors suggest a number of gender-balanced approaches to scaling-out technologies such as use of targeted, selective and smart subsidies and access to finance to women-headed households, methods to spread investment risks, and prioritizing joint learning, with husbands and wives attending field courses together and jointly developing business plans.
The research note is a result of joint efforts between the USAID/Washington and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation supported Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), the USAID/Bangladesh CSISA – Mechanization and Irrigation Project, and the the USAID/Washington funded USAID funded Gender, Climate Change, and Nutrition Integration Initiative (GCAN) project, all of which involve collaborations between the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, the International Food Policy Research Institute, International Development Enterprises, the International Rice Research Institute and the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security.
EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) â A new set of resources has been released to aid agricultural researchers integrating gender sensitivities into their research for development projects. The guidance notes are based on findings from GENNOVATE, a global comparative gender norms research initiative, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
âIntegrating gender into research is challenging,â said the project leader Lone Badstue. âThe purpose of these GENNOVATE resources is to inspire and help scientists who are not gender experts to think gender into their own work.â
Agricultural research often fails to use gender analysis, which provides important information on womenâs and menâs different needs and opportunities in agriculture, Badstue said.
(Photo: CIMMYT)
In a bid to turn the tide, GENNOVATE initiated a series of tools and guides to give evidence about gender roles in agriculture, challenge assumptions and provide gender-inclusive data collection instruments that are easily accessible to researchers.
âThese resources provide evidence-based inputs and recommendations on how to integrate gender considerations in research on, for example, climate-smart-agriculture, conservation agriculture, mechanization, farmer training events and more,â said Badstue. âSome of the tools have broad geographical relevance, while others have a regional or even country-level focus.â
The resources draw on GENNOVATE research, which focuses on how gender norms influence womenâs and menâs abilities to learn about, adopt and adapt innovations in agriculture and natural resource management. This research initiative runs across multiple CGIARÂ research programs to provide contextually grounded evidence on how gender interacts with access to information, resources and decision-making processes.
Offering a very warm welcome to the Australian High Commissioner and team by Arun Joshi. (Photo: Hardeep/CIMMYT)
Australian High Commissioner to India, Harinder Sidhu, visited the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) in Ladhowal, Ludhiana, India on February 19.
Arun Joshi, Managing Director for BISA & CIMMYT in India, welcomed her with an introduction about the creation, mission and activities of BISA and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).
Sidhu also learned about the work CIMMYT and BISA do in conservation agriculture in collaboration with Punjab Agricultural University, machinery manufacturers and farmers. This work focuses on using and scaling the Happy Seeder, which enables direct seeding of wheat into heavy loads of rice residue without burning. This technology has been called “an agricultural solution to air pollution in South Asia,” as the burning of crop residue is a huge contributor to poor air quality in South Asia. Sidhu learned about recent improvements to the technology, such as the addition of a straw management system to add extra functionality, which has led to the large-scale adoption of the Happy Seeder.
The high commissioner showed keen interest in the Happy Seeder machine, and was highly impressed by the test-wheat-crop planted on 400 acres with the Happy Seeder.
Salwinder Atwal showed Sidhu the experiments using Happy Seeder for commercial seed production, and ML Jat, Principal Researcher at CIMMYT, presented on the innovative research BISA and CIMMYT are doing on precision water, nutrient and genotype management.
Happy Australian High Commissioner riding a tractor at BISA Ludhiana. (Photo: Hardeep/CIMMYT)
Sidhu visited fields with trials of climate resilient wheat as Joshi explained the importance and role of germplasm banks and new approaches such as use of genomic selection in wheat breeding in the modern agriculture to address the current challenges of climate change. He also explained the work CIMMYT does on hybrid wheat for increasing yield potential and breeding higher resistance against wheat rusts and other diseases.
ML Jat, who leads the CIMMYT-CCAFS climate smart agriculture project, explained the concept of climate smart villages and led Sidhu on a visit to the climate smart village of Noorpur Bet, which has been adopted under the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security.
During Sidhuâs visit to Noorpur Bet, a stakeholder consultation was organized on scaling happy seeder technology for promoting no-burning farming. In the stakeholder consultation, stakeholders shared experiences with happy seeder as well as other conservation agriculture amd climate smart agriculture technologies. BS Sidhu, Commissioner of Agriculture for the Government of Punjab chaired the stakeholder consultation and shared his experiences as well as Government of Punjabâs plans and policies for the farmers to promote happy seeder and other climate smart technologies.
“I am very impressed to see all these developments and enthusiasm of the farmers and other stakeholders for scaling conservation agriculture practices for sustaining the food bowl,” said Sidhu. She noted that Punjab and Australia have many things in common and could learn from each other’s experiences. Later she also visited the Punjab Agricultural University and had a meeting with the Vice Chancellor.
This visit and interaction was attended by more than 200 key stakeholders including officers from Govt. of Punjab, ICAR, PAU-KVKs, PACS, BISA- CIMMYT-CCAFS, manufacturers, farmers and custom operators of Happy Seeder.
The Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) is a non-profit international research institute dedicated to food, nutrition and livelihood security as well as environmental rehabilitation in South Asia, which is home to more than 300 million undernourished people. BISA is a collaborative effort involving the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR).
“The Wizard and the Prophet” looks at the worldâs most threatening challenges through the eyes of scientists Norman Borlaug (left) and William Vogt. (Photos: CIMMYT, AICBC)
Charles Mannâs The Wizard and the Prophetreleased today seeks to reconcile two worldviews spurred by agronomist Norman Borlaug and ecologist William Vogt, to help us better understand how we can feed 10 billion people by 2050; without destroying our planet in the process.
Borlaug, the âwizardâ of the book, launched his vision from a small parcel of âbadly damaged landâ near Mexico City that would become the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). He was a key figure in developing high-yielding wheat varieties that saved millions from starvation in the 1960s, launching a global Green Revolution and becoming an emblem for âtechno-optimism,â or the view that science and technology will meet humanityâs growing demands.
Vogtâs 1948 book âThe Road to Survivalâ became the blueprint for todayâs modern environmental movement, prophesizing that unless humankind drastically reduces consumption, its growing numbers and appetite will overwhelm the planetâs resources. His novels and speeches inspired conservationists from Rachel Carson to Paul Ehrlich, and defined our concept of âenvironmentâ as an entity that deserves respect and protection.
Mann uses the views of Borlaug and Vogt as endpoints on a âwizard-prophetâ spectrum to illustrate different approaches experts are taking to solve four great, complex challenges of our time: food, water, energy and climate change.
But who is right? We, humans, are the only species on Earth that have been able to bend nature to our will. For thousands of years we burned forests to kill insects and encourage the growth of useful species, then later turned the planet into our âpersonal petri dish,â as Mann puts it, with the rise of agriculture and creation of crops like maize, which allowed Mesoamerican civilizations to grow and flourish. Today, violence and poverty are at an all-time low due to the wizardly-successes of Borlaug and others
However, Mann cautions past successes are no guarantee of the future. Vogtâs Malthusian predictions didnât come to pass, but Borlaugâs wizardry also had unintended social and environmental consequences. Fertilizer runoff, over-extraction of groundwater and the burning of fossil fuels are creating an increasingly inhospitable planet and arguably pushing us closer to Vogtâs envisioned planetary limits than ever before.
Norman Borlaug works with researchers in the field. (Photo: CIMMYT archives)
Both Borlaug and Vogt identified as environmentalists trying to solve the same monumental challenge of having too many people to feed but not enough resources. Their ideological heirs are also working to solve equally challenging problems but are bitterly opposed, in large part because the argument is less about facts and more about values.
Prophets see humans as living in a finite world with constrained limits imposed by the environment, while wizards believe human ingenuity gives us an endless array of tools to manage the environment for our needs.
Mann doesnât take either side, but rather offers solutions proposed by both prophets and wizards. He cites efforts to change the way photosynthesis works in rice at the International Rice Research Institute, but also initiatives like the domestication of wild perennial plants at the Land Institute. Both prophets and wizards have multiple, on-going efforts to meet all four challenges that Mann covers in the book. He says that itâs possible individual efforts wonât work, but the odds of all efforts failing are equally small.
Most importantly, there are many individuals and organizations today that are attempting to embrace both ideologies. CIMMYT, an organization that was founded by the original wizard, now incorporates sustainable agriculture practices into its work globally, with an emphasis on social inclusion.
The Wizard and the Prophetâs in-depth mix of biographical, historical, philosophical and scientific detail allows us to confront our wizard/prophet bias, and leaves one with a greater sense of respect for those with differing views on how we should shape our world in the 21st century.
Dr Thakur Prasad Tiwari, Country Representative, CIMMYT is seen welcoming the Planning Minister of Bangladesh to the CIMMYT exhibition. Photo: Barma, U./CIMMYT.
DHAKA, Bangladesh â On December 10 2017, The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) joined the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in celebrating the 33rd SAARC Charter Day – the annual festivities commemorating the formation of SAARC. The day was celebrated through a special agricultural exhibition and regional seminar on agricultural mechanization in the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Centre (BARC) campus, Dhaka.
With the theme “International Year of Agricultural Mechanization”, the event aimed to educate the attendees on improved farm machine and technologies, and promote agricultural mechanization for sustainable intensification of agriculture to achieve greater food and nutrition security in South Asia.
CIMMYT exhibited its conservation agricultural (CA) techniques and machines that have been developed in collaboration with public and private sector partners. The exhibition stall was visited by government officials (including two ministers in Bangladesh), NGOs and private sector organization, as well as people off the street.
The Minister for Planning A. H. M. Mustafa Kamal inaugurated the event and later visited CIMMYTâs exhibition stall.
CIMMYT country representative received the certificate for the participation from Motia Chowdhury, Agricultural Minister, GoB. Photo: Barma, U./CIMMYT.
CIMMYT Country Representative for Bangladesh, Thakur Prasad Tiwari, along with senior scientists and staffs were present during the visit and explained CIMMYT activities to the delegates.
A book titled âMechanisation for Sustainable Agriculture Intensification in SAARC region,â with a chapter on the role of mechanization in CA written by McHugh, Ken Sayre and Jeff Esdaile, of CIMMYTâs CA team was launched during the event.
Chowdhury presented a certificate of appreciation and plaque to Tiwari on behalf of CIMMYT and its keynote speaker, McHugh.
Agricultural leaders from across South Asia recently meet to discuss how to best tackle climate change while meeting future food demand. Photo: CIMMYT/ M. DeFreese
Fifty years ago, economists and population experts predicted millions were about to die from famine.
India and other Asian countries were expected by scholars like Paul Ehrlich in The Population Bomb to be especially hard hit in the 1970s and 1980s, given the regionâs high population growth rates.
South Asia braced for mass starvation as hunger and malnutrition spread while multiple droughts plagued India and neighboring countries â but it never happened.
Instead, rice and wheat yields more than doubled in Asia from the 1960s to 1990s, grain prices fell, people consumed nearly a third more calories and the poverty rate was cut in half â despite the population growing 60 percent.
Improved rice and wheat varieties combined with the expanded use of fertilizers, irrigation and supportive public policies for agriculture led to this dramatic growth in food production and human development that would become known as the Green Revolution.
Today, South Asia faces new, but equally daunting challenges. By 2050, the United Nations predicts the worldâs population will grow by more than two billion people, 30 percent of which will be in South and Southeast Asia. These regions are also where the effects of climate change, like variable rainfall and extreme flooding, are most dire.
Wheat, maize and rice yields in South Asia could decrease by as much as 30 percent over this century unless farmers adopt innovations to mitigate rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns.
Agricultural leaders from across South Asia recently gathered in Dhaka, Bangladesh to create a roadmap on how to best help farmers cope with climate change while meeting future food demand.
âSouth Asian agriculture needs to be transformed as it was during the Green Revolution,â according to ML Jat, principal scientist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and co-author of a recent policy brief detailing the policy dialogue in Bangladesh. âHolistic management and more efficient use of resources to protect soil, water and air quality is necessary to improve both agricultural and human health.â
Public policies across the region currently subsidize agrochemicals, irrigation and unsustainable tilling, making it an uphill battle for many who promote sustainable intensification â a set of practices that adapt farming systems to climate change and sustainably manage land, soil, nutrient and water resources â as an alternative to these environmentally destructive practices.
Sustainable intensification advocates in South Asia have found that conservation agriculture â a sustainable management paradigm based on the principles of minimal soil disturbance, permanent soil cover and the use of crop rotation to simultaneously maintain and boost yields, increase profits and protect the environment â could be greatly expanded to benefit farmers across the region.
Conservation agriculture was first adopted in South Asia in the mid-1990s for no-till wheat farming and has since spread to cover more than 5 million hectares of farmland, mostly in India. Precision land levelers, machines equipped with laser-guided drag buckets to level fields so water flows evenly into soil — rather than running off or collecting in uneven land — were also adopted during this time, which significantly boosted conservation agricultureâs impact.
âWhen these technologies are combined with improved seed, like HD-2967, Munal, HDCSW 18, the benefits for farmers are even greater,â said Jat.
Despite this growth, conservation agriculture is practiced on just two percent of South Asiaâs arable land, and very limited farmers end up adopting the complete set of sustainable intensification practices necessary to fully boost production while conserving the environment.
âWhile some practices like zero-till wheat have become very popular, growing rice in submerged fields remains a common practice which is one of the major obstacle in the adoption of full conservation agriculture in irrigated intensive rice-wheat systems of South Asia,â said Jat.
Policies that support farmers with few resources to take chances to experiment with conservation agriculture, such as guaranteeing a cash payout if crops fail or free access to zero-till machinery, can give people the incentive and protection they need to permanently shift the way they farm.
In addition to on-the-ground policy commitments, delegates in Bangladesh declared conservation agriculture and sustainable intensification should be at the heart of South Asiaâs development agenda not only to improve national food security but to meet international obligations.
âIf we donât make South Asiaâs farming sustainable, we will fail to meet international commitments on climate change, poverty and the environment, including the Sustainable Development Goals,â said Raj Paroda, Chairman of the Trust for Advancement of Agricultural Science (TAAS).
Delegates at the meeting called for a significant boost in funding towards conservation agriculture for sustainable intensification efforts, as well as the need to incorporate sustainable intensification practices in existing publicly-funded agricultural development initiatives.
Finally, the delegates created a platform where regional leaders, national agricultural research centers, donors and international research organizations can share knowledge, success stories, new technologies and expertise.
Read the full policy brief of the Scaling Conservation Agriculture for Sustainable Intensification in South Asia meeting here.
Since 2015, the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) has been working with Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) – agricultural extension centers created by the Indian Council for Agricultural Research – to generate evidence on best management practices for improving cropping system productivity in the Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains.
Billboard Campaign on early sowing and zero tillage wheat. Photo: CSISA
Technologies and management practices essential to this research include early wheat sowing, zero tillage and the timely transplanting of rice. In response to clear evidence generated through the CSISAâKVK partnership, Bihar Agriculture University (BAU) announced in October 2017 that all KVKs in Bihar would promote early wheat sowing starting November 1. KVKs promoted this intervention by placing notices, which were designed by CSISA, on roadsides.
BAU also directed the KVKs to act as commercial paddy nurseries, supplying healthy rice seedlings in a timely manner to farmers.
Pairing these rice and wheat interventions is designed to optimize system productivity through the on-time rice transplanting of rice during Kharif (monsoon growing season), allowing for the timely seeding of zero-till wheat in Rabi (winter growing season).
Under the CSISAâKVK partnership, KVKs have supported early wheat sowing by introducing local farmers to the practice of sowing zero tillage wheat immediately after rice harvesting.
Evidence has shown that early sowing of wheat increases yields across Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh. KVK scientists have begun to see the importance of breaking the tradition of sowing short duration varieties of wheat late in the season, which exposes the crops to higher temperatures and reduces yields.
Across the annual cropping cycle, monsoon variability threatens the rice phase and terminal heat threatens the wheat phase, with significant potential cumulative effects on system productivity. The combined interventions of early wheat sowing, zero tillage wheat and rice nurseries for timely planting help mitigate the effects of both variable monsoon and high temperatures during the grain-filling stage.
In 2016â17, data collected across seven KVKs (333 sites) indicated that yields declined systematically when wheat was planted after November 10. When planting was done on November 20 — yields declined by 4%, November 30 – 15%, December 10 – 30%, reaching a low when planting was done on December 20 of a 40% reduction in yield.
Rice yields are also reduced significantly if transplanting is delayed beyond July 20. The timing of rice cultivation, therefore, is important in facilitating early sowing in wheat without any yield penalty to rice.
KVKs are working to generate awareness of these important cropping system interventions, as well as others, deep in each district in which they work. CSISA supports their efforts and strives to mainstream sustainable intensification technologies and management practices within a variety of public- and private sector extension systems as capacity building are core to CSISA Phase IIIâs vision of success.
Group photo during the visit of the Australian High Commissioner to India, Harinder Sidhu. Photo: SRFSI program.
DEHLI, India (CIMMYT) â This November, the work of the Sustainable and Resilient Farming Systems Intensification (SRFSI) project was marked with notable recognition by the Australian Government with a visit from the Australian High Commissioner to India, Harinder Sidhu. The project is co-led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).
Field visit at SRFSI. Photo: SRFSI program.
Sidhuâs visit to observe the SRFSI projectâs activities from a grassroots level allowed her to have hands-on experience and interaction with university students, farmers, womenâs self-help groups, local service providers and private agencies engaged as members of an SRFSI innovation platform.
Sidhu met with the members of a farmersâ club which is solely operated and monitored by women of the local community. She was highly impressed with the efforts of these women to make themselves independent and self-reliant through new innovations in mushroom, fish and duck farming.
Australian High Commissioner to India, Harinder Sidhu, sitting with a local women’s group. Photo: SRFSI program.
âIt was heartening to observe the positive response of the farmers, especially women, to conservation and sustainable farming, and how the technology has improved incomes, reduced drudgery, had positive health impacts and facilitated the development of agri-entrepreneurs,â said Sidhu in her thank you letter.
On the last day of her visit to trial fields, Sidhu was impressed by the service provider business model developed by the SRFSI project to facilitate the creation of employment opportunities and motivation for youth to engage in farming activities.
Sidhu wrote, âI wish you and your team success in reaching out to farmers in north Bengal and working together with them to improve their lives and those of future generations.â
SRFSI is led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and jointly implemented by the Department of Agriculture, Government of West Bengal and Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya Agricultural University.
As part of the efforts of the Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture (MasAgro) program aimed at improving food security based on maize landraces in marginal areas of the state of Oaxaca, Mexico, a workshop on trial design was held from 19-21 February to improve the precision of data on improved maize landraces in smallholder farmersâ fields. Attending the workshop were partners from the National Forestry, Agriculture and Livestock Research Institute (INIFAP) and the Southern Regional University Center of the Autonomous University of Chapingo (UACh).
