research: Sustainable agrifood systems

New systems analysis tools help boost the sustainable intensification of agriculture in Bangladesh

Written by on December 4, 2017. Posted in News.

Group photo at ESAP workshop in Bangladesh. Photo: CSISA.

DHAKA, Bangladesh (CIMMYT) – In South Asia, the population is growing and land area for agricultural expansion is extremely limited. Increasing the productivity of already farmed land is the best way to attain food security.

In the northwestern Indo-Gangetic Plains, farmers use groundwater to irrigate their fields. This allows them to grow two or three crops on the same piece of land each year, generating a reliable source of food and income for farming families. But in the food-insecure lower Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains in Bangladesh, farmers have lower investment capacities and are highly risk averse. Combined with environmental difficulties including ground water scarcity and soil and water salinity, cropping is often much less productive.

Could the use of available surface water for irrigation provide part of the solution to these problems? The government of Bangladesh has recently promoted the use of surface water irrigation for crop intensification. The concept is simple: by utilizing the country’s network of largely underutilized natural canals, farmers can theoretically establish at least two well-irrigated and higher-yielding crops per year. The potential for this approach to intensifying agriculture however has various limitations. High soil and water salinity, poor drainage and waterlogging threaten crop productivity. In addition, weakly developed markets, rural to urban out-migration, low tenancy issues and overall production risk limit farmers’ productivity. The systematic nature of these problems calls for new approaches to study how development investments can best be leveraged to overcome these complex challenges to increase cropping intensity.

Policy makers, development practitioners and agricultural scientists recently gathered to respond to these challenges at a workshop in Dhaka. They reviewed research results and discussed potential solutions to common limitations. Representatives from more than ten national research, extension, development and policy institutes participated. The CSISA-supported workshop however differed from conventional approaches to research for development in agriculture, in that it explicitly focused on interdisciplinary and systems analysis approaches to addressing these complex problems.

Systems analysis is the process of studying the individual parts and their integration into complex systems to identify ways in which more effective and efficient outcomes can be attained. This workshop focused on these approaches and highlighted new advances in mathematical modeling, geospatial systems analysis, and the use of systems approaches to farmer behavioral science.

Timothy J. Krupnik, Systems Agronomist at CIMMYT and CSISA Bangladesh country coordinator, gave an overview of a geospatial assessment of landscape-scale irrigated production potential in coastal Bangladesh to start the talks.

For the first time in Bangladesh, research using cognitive mapping, a technique developed in cognitive and behavioral science that can be used to model farmers’ perceptions of their farming systems, and opportunities for development interventions to overcome constraints to intensified cropping, was described. This work was conducted by Jacqueline Halbrendt and presented by Lenora Ditzler, both with the Wageningen University.

“This research and policy dialogue workshop brought new ideas of farming systems and research, and has shown new and valuable tools to analyze complex problems and give insights into how to prioritize development options,” said Executive Director of the Krishi Gobeshona Foundation, Wais Kabir.

Workshop participants also discussed how to prioritize future development interventions, including how to apply a new online tool that can be used to target irrigation scheme planning, which arose from the work presented by Krupnik. Based on the results of these integrated agronomic and socioeconomic systems analyses, participants also learned how canal dredging, drainage, micro-finance, extension and market development must be integrated to achieve increases in cropping intensity in southern Bangladesh.

Mohammad Saidur Rahman, Assistant Professor, Seed Science and Technology department at Bangladesh Agriculture University, also said he appreciated the meeting’s focus on new methods. He indicated that systems analysis can be applied not only to questions on cropping intensification in Bangladesh, but to other crucial problems in agricultural development across South Asia.

The workshop was organized by the Enhancing the Effectiveness of Systems Analysis Tools to Support Learning and Innovation in Multi-stakeholder Platforms (ESAP) project, an initiative funded by the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE) through the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and supported in Bangladesh through the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA). ESAP is implemented by Wageningen University’s Farming Systems Ecology group and the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT).

CSISA is a CIMMYT-led initiative implemented jointly with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). CSISA works to increase the adoption of various resource-conserving and climate-resilient technologies by operating in rural “innovation hubs” in Bangladesh, India and Nepal, and seeks to improve farmers’ access to market information and enterprise development.

Breaking Ground: Leonard Rusinamhodzi on innovating farming systems for climate change

Written by on November 30, 2017. Posted in Features.

TwitterBGLernard Food security is at the heart of Africa’s development agenda. However, climate change is threatening the Malabo Commitment to end hunger in the region by 2025, said Leonard Rusinamhodzi, a systems agronomist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center.

Erratic rainfall and increasing temperatures are already causing crops to fail, threatening African farmers’ ability to ensure household food security, he said. Africa is the region most vulnerable to climate variability and change, according to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Small-scale family farmers, who provide the majority of food production in Africa, are set to be among the worst affected. Rusinamhodzi’s work includes educating African farmers about the impacts of climate change and working with them to tailor sustainable agriculture solutions to increase their food production in the face of increasingly variable weather.

The world’s population is projected to reach 9.8 billion by 2050, with 2.1 billion people set to live in sub-Saharan Africa alone. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates farmers will need to increase production by at least 70 percent to meet demand. However, climate change is bringing numerous risks to traditional farming systems challenging the ability to increase production, said Rusinamhodzi.

Graphic created by Gerardo Mejia. Data sourced form the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. — Graphic created by Gerardo Mejia. Data sourced from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Rusinamhodzi believes increasing farmers’ awareness of climate risks and working with them to implement sustainable solutions is key to ensuring they can buffer climate shocks, such as drought and erratic rainfall.

“The onset of rainfall is starting late and the seasonal dry spells or outright droughts are becoming commonplace,” said Rusinamhodzi. “Farmers need more knowledge and resources on altering planting dates and densities, crop varieties and species, fertilizer regimes and crop rotations to sustainably intensify food production.”

Growing up in Zimbabwe – a country that is now experiencing the impacts of climate change first hand – Rusinamhodzi understands the importance of small-scale agriculture and the damage erratic weather can have on household food security.

He studied soil science and agronomy and began his career as a research associate at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture in Zimbabwe learning how to use conservation agriculture as a sustainable entry point to increase food production.

Conservation agriculture is 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. It improves soil function and quality, which can improve resilience to climate variability.

It is a sustainable intensification practice, which is aimed at enhancing the productivity of labor, land and capital. Sustainable intensification practices offer the potential to simultaneously address a number of pressing development objectives, unlocking agriculture’s potential to adapt farming systems to climate change and sustainable manage land, soil, nutrient and water resources, while improving food and nutrition.

Tailoring sustainable agriculture to farmers

Smallholder farming systems in Africa are diverse in character and content, although maize is usually the major crop. Within each system, farmers are also diverse in terms of resources and production processes. Biophysically, conditions – such as soil and rainfall – change significantly within short distances.

Given the varying circumstances, conservation agriculture cannot be promoted as rigid or one-size fits all solution as defined by the three principles, said Rusinamhodzi.

The systems agronomist studied for his doctoral at Wageningen University with a special focus on targeting appropriate crop intensification options to selected farming systems in southern Africa. Now, with CIMMYT he works with African farming communities to adapt conservation agriculture to farmers’ specific circumstances to boost their food production.

Rusinamhodzi’s focus in the region is to design cropping systems around maize-legume intercropping and conservation agriculture. Intercropping has the added advantage of producing two crops from the same piece of land in a single season; different species such as maize and legumes can increase facilitation and help overcome the negative effects of prolonged dry spells and poor soil quality.

Farmer Elphas Chinyanga inspecting his conservation agriculture plots in Zimbabwe. Photo: Peter Lowe/ CIMMYT

“The key is to understand the farmers, their resources including the biophysical circumstances and their production systems, and assist in adapting conservation agriculture to local needs,” he said.

Working with CIMMYT’s Sustainable Intensification Program, Rusinamhodzi seeks to understand production constraints and opportunities for increased productivity starting with locally available resources.

Using crop simulation modeling and experimentation, he estimates how the farming system will perform under different conditions and works to formulate a set of options to help farmers. The options can include agroforestry, intercropping, improved varieties resistant to heat and drought, fertilizers and manures along with the principles of conservation agriculture to obtain the best results.

The models are an innovative way assess the success or trade-off farmers could have when adding new processes to their farming system. However, the application of these tools are still limited due to the large amounts of data needed for calibration and the complexity, he added.

Information gathered is shared with farmers in order to offer researched options on how to sustainably boost their food production under their conditions, Rusinamhodzi said.

“My ultimate goal is to increase farmers’ decision space so that they make choices from an informed position,” he said.

Rusinamhodzi also trains farmers, national governments, non-profit organizations, seed companies and graduate students on the concepts and application of sustainable intensification including advanced analysis to understand system productivity, soil quality, water and nutrient use efficiency and crop pest and disease dynamics.

Leonard Rusinamhodzi works with the SIMLESA project funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research and the CGIAR MAIZE program.

Helping farming families thrive while fighting climate change in Mexico

Written by on November 9, 2017. Posted in News.

Farmers walk through a field that has been cleared by slash and burn agriculture in the Yucatan peninsula. Photo: Maria Alvarado/ CIMMYT — Farmers walk through a field that has been cleared by slash and burn agriculture in the Yucatan peninsula. Photo: Maria Boa/ CIMMYT

MEXICO CITY (CIMMYT) — The Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico has been hard hit by drought and extreme weather events related to climate change in recent years, exacerbating local poverty and food insecurity. In addition, slash-and-burn agriculture techniques have led to environmental degradation and contribute to climate change. The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is working to help indigenous Mayan farming families in the Yucatan peninsula adapt to and mitigate climate change, increasing maize yields and food security while minimizing negative environmental impact. This comes as world leaders mull a crucial decision on agriculture at the UN Climate talks in Bonn, a decision that could support farmers everywhere to take similar actions.

Maize is the backbone of diets in the Yucatan Peninsula, and has sustained indigenous Mayan families for millennia. It is grown as part of the “milpa,” a pre-hispanic intercropping system that revolves around the symbiotic relationship of maize, beans and squash.

Traditionally, the milpa system has involved clearing new land for farming using the slash and burn method. However, after two to three years, the soils begin to deteriorate and new land must be cleared. These practices have contributed to deforestation, increased CO2 emissions, and loss of invaluable local biodiversity.

In the Yucatan Peninsula, climate change has begun to threaten milpa agriculture. The rains have been later and shorter every year, reducing maize yields. As it has become more difficult to make a living from agriculture, young people have been forced to migrate to find work. Farmers have also lost seeds of their traditional maize varieties when they have been unable to harvest after severe drought.

A new CIMMYT project, Milpa Sustentable Yucatan Peninsula, is helping farming families increase their maize yields through sustainable, inclusive solutions. The Project, which means “sustainable milpa” in Spanish, is working to help farming families identify the best soils in their communal land and incorporate sustainable intensification and conservation agriculture (CA) practices to improve soils in order to prevent deforestation and mitigate climate change.

The project has a strong social inclusion component and works to make sure that women and youth are included and prioritized in capacity development opportunities and decision-making processes. “As milpa is a family system, women and youth must be included in order to attain impact,” said Carolina Camacho, principal researcher on social inclusion at CIMMYT. “Complex challenges such as climate change require social change and inclusion of traditionally marginalized groups such women and youth in order for mitigation to be successful.”

Farming families are taught CA techniques such as zero tillage that help prevent erosion and water runoff. This increases soil health and uses water more efficiently, which helps maize better survive drought and allows farmers to farm the same land for many years without resorting to deforestation or burning.

Native maize diversity in the Yucatan peninsula. Photo: Maria Alvarado/ CIMMYT — Native maize diversity in the Yucatan peninsula. Photo: Maria Boa/ CIMMYT

“Farmers used to harvest 500 kilograms of maize per hectare. Now, with techniques they have learned from CIMMYT, they are harvesting up to 2 tons per hectare,” said Vladimir May, technical leader of the Milpa Sustentable Yucatan Peninsula project. The project has also helped farmers increase yields by identifying natural inputs that can be integrated into an integrated pest and fertility management strategy This allows farming families to sustainably increase their maize yields despite limited inputs and resources.

The native maize grown by farmers in the Yucatan Peninsula adapted to its local environment over centuries of selection by farmers to perform well despite poor soils and other challenges. However, climate change has threatened the survival of this maize genetic diversity. Some farmers lost all of the seed of their traditional maize varieties when they were unable to harvest anything after extreme drought. Others have found that their traditional varieties do not perform as well as they had due to environmental stress related to climate change.

CIMMYT is working to help farmers replace stores of traditional maize seed they have lost due to drought and climate change. The CIMMYT maize seed bank safeguards over 28,000 maize varieties for the benefit of humanity, including seeds that are native to the Yucatan Peninsula. Milpa Sustentable Yucatan Peninsula has worked with the seed bank to find farmers original varieties, restoring a priceless component of many families’ food security, culture and biodiversity.

The project has also helped farmers increase their yields through participatory variety selection. By crossing farmers’ native varieties with other native maize varieties that are more resistant to drought or climate change, farmers can sustainably increase maize yields without losing the qualities they love about their traditional varieties. Women have played a key role in this participatory variety selection, because as they process and prepare all of the food grown by the family, they have intimate knowledge of the characteristics the maize must have to perform well and feed the family.

Farmers working with the CIMMYT project in Yucatan Peninsula. Photo: Maria Boa/ CIMMYT

Poverty and food insecurity in the region have meant that migration has been a necessity for many. With new technologies and support from CIMMYT, women and youth are beginning to see that they may have a future in farming, despite the challenge of climate change. “Now that they see how much maize and other cash crops can be produced with sustainable technologies, young people are deciding to stay,” said Maria Boa, a consultant working with the project. “As youth are sometimes more accepting of new technologies, young farmers in the Yucatan play a crucial role in climate change mitigation and adaptation. Inclusion of women and youth is necessary to make a positive change in these communities.”

These and other farmers around the world will play an important role in fighting climate change, by reducing emissions from farming. While a majority of countries, including Mexico, have committed to reducing the climate footprint of agriculture, world leaders must now decide how to best support and finance these actions.

The Milpa Sustentable Yucatan Peninsula project is operated and supported by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the government of Mexico through the SAGARPA program Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture (MasAgro) CitiBanamex, Fundación Haciendas del Mundo Maya and the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE). The project is operated with the support of local partners, non-governmental organizations and the different levels of the Mexican government.

At this year’s UN Climate Talks, CIMMYT is highlighting innovations in wheat and maize that can help farmers overcome climate change. Click here to read more stories in this series and follow @CIMMYT on Facebook and Twitter for the latest updates.

Climate insurance for farmers: a shield that boosts innovation

Written by on November 7, 2017. Posted in Features.

Index insurance is one of the top 10 innovations for climate-proof farming. Photo: P. Lowe/ CIMMYT

What stands between a smallholder farmer and a bag of climate-adapted seeds? In many cases, it’s the hesitation to take a risk. Farmers may want to use improved varieties, invest in new tools, or diversify what they grow, but they need reassurance that their investments and hard work will not be squandered.

Climate change already threatens crops and livestock; one unfortunately-timed dry spell or flash flood can mean losing everything. Today, innovative insurance products are tipping the balance in farmers’ favor. That’s why insurance is featured as one of 10 innovations for climate action in agriculture, in a new report released ahead of next week’s UN Climate Talks. These innovations are drawn from decades of agricultural research for development by CGIAR and its partners and showcase an array of integrated solutions that can transform the food system.

Index insurance is making a difference to farmers at the frontlines of climate change. It is an essential building block for adapting our global food system and helping farmers thrive in a changing climate. Taken together with other innovations like stress-tolerant crop varieties, climate-informed advisories for farmers, and creative business and financial models, index insurance shows tremendous promise.

The concept is simple. To start with, farmers who are covered can recoup their losses if (for example) rainfall or average yield falls above or below a pre-specified threshold or ‘index’. This is a leap forward compared to the costly and slow process of manually verifying the damage and loss in each farmer’s field. In India, scientists from the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), have worked out the water level thresholds that could spell disaster for rice farmers if exceeded. Combining 35 years of observed rainfall and other data, with high-resolution satellite images of actual flooding, scientists and insurers can accurately gauge the extent of flooding and crop loss to quickly determine who gets payouts.

The core feature of index insurance is to offer a lifeline to farmers, so they can shield themselves from the very worst effects of climate change. But that’s not all. Together with my team, we’re investigating how insurance can help farmers adopt new and improved varieties. Scientists are very good at developing technologies but farmers are not always willing to make the leap. This is one of the most important challenges that we grapple with. What we’ve found has amazed us: buying insurance can help farmers overcome uncertainty and give them the confidence to invest in new innovations and approaches. This is critical for climate change adaptation. We’re also finding that creditors are more willing to lend to insured farmers and that insurance can stimulate entrepreneurship and innovation. Ultimately, insurance can help break poverty traps, by encouraging a transformation in farming.

Insurers at the cutting edge are making it easy for farmers to get coverage. In Kenya, insurance is being bundled into bags of maize seeds, in a scheme led by ACRE Africa. Farmers pay a small premium when buying the seeds and each bag contains a scratch card with a code, which farmers text to ACRE at the time of planting. This initiates coverage against drought for the next 21 days; participating farms are monitored using satellite imagery. If there are enough days without rain, a farmer gets paid instantly via their mobile phone.

ACRE makes it easy for Kenyan farmers to get insurance. Source

Farmers everywhere are businesspeople who seek to increase yields and profits while minimizing risk and losses. As such, insurance has widespread appeal. We’ve seen successful initiatives grow rapidly in India, China, Zambia, Kenya and Mexico, which points to significant potential in other countries and contexts. The farmers most likely to benefit from index insurance are emergent and commercial farmers, as they are more likely than subsistence smallholder farmers to purchase insurance on a continual basis.

It’s time for more investment in index insurance and other innovations that can help farmers adapt to climate change. Countries have overwhelmingly prioritized climate actions in the agriculture sector, and sustained support is now needed to help them meet the goals set out in the Paris Climate Agreement.

Jon Hellin leads the project on weather index-based agricultural insurance as part of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). This work is done in collaboration with the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) at Columbia University, and the CGIAR Research Programs on MAIZE and WHEAT.

Find out more

Report: 10 innovations for climate action in agriculture

Video: Jon Hellin on crop-index insurance for smallholder farmers

Info note: Prospects for scaling up the contribution of index insurance to smallholder adaptation to climate risk

Report: Scaling up index insurance for smallholder farmers: Recent evidence and insights.

Website: Weather-related agricultural insurance products and programs – CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS)

Breaking Ground: Clare Stirling sees no silver bullets to control agriculture’s emissions

Written by Mike Listman on November 1, 2017. Posted in Features.

ClareStirling_Postcard

There are no easy fixes nor can business as usual continue, if humankind is to reduce the climate footprint of global agriculture while intensifying farming to meet rising food demands, according to an international scientist who has studied agriculture and climate interactions for nearly three decades.

“Climate change is a threat multiplier, intensifying the challenges of population growth, food insecurity, poverty, and malnutrition,” said Clare Stirling, a scientist in the sustainable intensification program of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). “With almost 60% of global food production coming from rainfed agriculture and more than 650 million people dependent on rainfed farming in Africa alone, our food system is already highly vulnerable to changing climates.”

Stirling, who is CIMMYT’s liaison with the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), believes that agriculture—including smallholder agriculture—can play a key role in meeting greenhouse gas emission targets, but only with combined and coordinated efforts that cross institutional and disciplinary boundaries.

CIMMYT contributes through a systems approach to developing and promoting climate smart technologies—including drought tolerant maize and wheat varieties, conservation agriculture, and precision nutrient and water management—as well as research on climate services, index-based insurance for farmers whose crops are damaged by bad weather, and data and models for greenhouse gas emissions in India and Mexico.

“Take the case of India, the world’s second-largest food producer,” Stirling explained. “Mitigation options for crops, of which rice-wheat systems are a major component, include improved water management in rice, more precise use of nitrogen fertilizer, preventing the burning of crop residues and promoting zero or reduced tillage, depending on local conditions and practices. With the right policies and training for farmers, these options could spread quickly to reduce emissions by as much as 130 Megatons of CO₂e per year from the crop sector alone. The big challenge is achieving large-scale adoption for significant mitigation to occur.”

Science needed for local mitigation targets

Born in Malawi and having spent her early childhood in Zimbabwe, young Stirling also lived a year with her parents and siblings in a house trailer on a farm in Devon, United Kingdom. “Most of my childhood and teen years were spent living in villages, riding horses, and working on farms during school holidays. Out of this came a desire to work in agriculture and overseas.”

Stirling obtained a bachelor’s degree in plant science and a doctor’s degree in environmental crop physiology at Sutton Bonnington, University of Nottingham, U.K., performing fieldwork for the latter at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in Hyderbad, India.

As a Ph.D. student at Nottingham, she also joined a research group under the late Professor John Monteith that was quantifying relationships among crop growth, radiation, and water use. The resulting equations underpin many of today’s crop simulation models. “My research since has focused on environmental interactions and crop growth, so climate change became an important part of this, starting with an M.Sc. course on the topic that I set up in Essex University in the 1990s.”

Among the intractable challenges Stirling sees is soil degradation. “Unless this is addressed, it will be impossible to sustainably intensify or build climate resilience into food systems,” she explained. “We must manage limited organic matter and fertilisers better and more efficiently, to achieve healthier soils.”

She is also concerned that the climate science to support national and local climate change adaptation planning is much less certain than that which informs long-term global scale targets. “CIMMYT has an invaluable role with its global and strategic research mandate to develop technologies that will raise productivity and resource use efficiency in future, warmer climates,” Stirling asserted.

“Local climate predictions are likely to remain uncertain and adapting to current climate variability may not be enough for long-term adaptation in many places, with the surprises that may be in store,” Stirling added.

“International organizations such as CIMMYT need to offer stress-tolerant, high-yielding germplasm and sustainable management systems, as well as harnessing big data and digitization, to transform adaptation to deal with future, more extreme climates. Finally, future farmers will need to get the most out of good conditions and good years because, the way things are headed, there may be little hope for coping in bad years.”

Read about research by Stirling and colleagues:

Click here to read “Tek B. Sapkota, Jeetendra P. Aryal, Arun Khatri-Chhetri, Paresh B. Shirsath, Ponraj Arumugam, and Clare M. Stirling. 2017. Identifying high-yield low-emission pathways for the cereal production in South Asia. Mitig Adapt Strateg Glob Change DOI 10.1007/s11027-017-9752-1.

New book highlights sustainable agriculture success story in Mexico

Written by on October 25, 2017. Posted in News.

MEXICO CITY (CIMMYT) – A new book from Columbia University Press offers social sector organizations a how-to guide on applying new and creative methods to solve complex problems.

Design Thinking for the Greater Good tells 10 stories of the struggles and successes of organizations from across the world working in industries from healthcare to agriculture that have applied design thinking, a human-centered approach to problem solving, in order to truly understand the problems they wanted to solve, generate testable ideas and develop solutions for vulnerable groups who actually adopted them.

“Our path into the world of design thinking came originally through the for-profit world,” says Jeanne Liedtka, a professor at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business and co-author of the book, during her online course offered through Coursera. “For almost a decade now, we’ve been studying design thinking as a methodology for improving business innovation and growth and examining its successful use in global corporations like IBM, Toyota and 3M.”

According to Liedtka, design methods are even more powerful in the social sector, since these organizations have to frequently navigate complex bureaucracies, work with limited resources and juggle a large range of stakeholder expectations, among other challenges.

DesignThinking_24Oct One of the 10 stories in the book shows how the Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture program (MasAgro), a joint project from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and Mexico’s Agriculture Department (SAGARPA), was able to launch a solution into practice through prototyping and testing that helped smallholder farmers in Mexico adopt new sustainable agriculture methods.

MasAgro is also cited as a textbook example of how to develop new practices and technologies by building on traditional knowledge through innovation networks, or “hubs,” which are able to “cut through communication barriers, allowing MasAgro and the farmers to combine the old and the new into best practices that serve local farmers and communities,” according to the authors.

The authors conclude that MasAgro made innovation safe by relying on respected community leaders and innovation networks that develop, test and adapt agricultural methods and innovations that visibly outperform alternative agricultural practices.

“MasAgro has been acknowledged as an innovation in the social sector by design thinking experts because risk averse smallholder farmers in Mexico, whose annual income depends on one agricultural cycle determined by nature, have embraced new sustainable farming practices to improve their livelihoods,” said Bram Govaerts, CIMMYT’s regional representative for the Americas.

Purchase Design Thinking for the Greater Good at Columbia University Press here and check out Jeanne Liedtka’s online course here.

MasAgro is a research for rural development project that promotes the sustainable intensification of maize and wheat production in Mexico, supported by SAGARPA and CIMMYT. Learn more about the project here.

How a seed bank in Mexico produces data to help alleviate poverty

Written by on October 16, 2017. Posted in Features.

Maize seed samples in CIMMYT's seed bank. CIMMYT/file — Maize (also known as corn) seed samples in CIMMYT’s seed bank. CIMMYT/file

DES MOINES, Iowa (CIMMYT) – Scientist Kevin Pixley holds a large, clear plastic bottle up to the light to illuminate the yellow corn kernels inside. He is leading a project to catalogue 178,000 corn and wheat seeds at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center’s (CIMMYT) seed bank near Mexico City.

“The difficulty farmers and researchers face is that no matter how hard they look they can’t see inside a seed to predict its hardiness – they never know whether it will withstand the growing conditions it will experience,” said Pixley, who will speak at the 2017 Borlaug Dialogue symposium in Des Moines, Iowa, on October 18.

CIMMYT’s mission is to apply maize and wheat science for improved livelihoods around the world.

“Our seed bank provides a sub-zero temperature refuge for the largest collection of maize and wheat seeds in the world,” explained Pixley, who leads CIMMYT’s Seeds of Discovery (SeeD) project. “Recent technological advances are accelerating our understanding of the inner workings of these seeds, making them ever more useful to researchers and farmers.

“Through conservation, characterization and use of natural biodiversity, we’re not just helping to improve livelihoods for smallholder farmers in the present, but we’re building our capacity to thwart future threats to food security,” Pixley said. “Every year we ship some 300,000 maize and wheat seed samples to farmers and researchers.”

Through the SeeD partnership between CIMMYT, Mexico’s ministry of agriculture (SAGARPA) and the MasAgro (Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture) project, scientists are developing the capacity for farmers to prepare for specific or as yet unanticipated needs.

“Seeds of Discovery offers the next generation of Mexican scientists the training and technologies they need to support food security,” said Jorge Armando Narvaez Narvaez, Mexico’s sub-secretary of agriculture.

“In some ways our work has only just begun, but we’re leaps and bounds ahead of where we would be thanks to applying new technologies to secure the food and nutrition needs of our growing population,” Pixley said.

For further information:

Seeds of Discovery video: http://staging.cimmyt.org/seed/

Seeds of Discovery website: http://seedsofdiscovery.org/

Farming First TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDwBtWRiHxs

Al Jazeera: Crop Biodiversity the Key to Ending Hunger

For interviews: Julie Mollins, CIMMYT communications j.mollins [at] cgiar [dot] org

Borlaug Dialogue delegates to discuss strategy for tackling Fall Armyworm menace in Africa

Written by on October 14, 2017. Posted in News.

BODDUPALLI-Maruthi-Prasanna DES MOINES, Iowa (CIMMYT) – Without proper control methods, the Fall Armyworm (FAW) menace could lead to maize yield losses estimated at $2.5 to $6.2 billion a year in just 12 of the 28 African countries where the pest has been confirmed, scientists from the Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International, (CABI) reported recently.

The devastating insect-pest, which originated in the Americas, is capable of causing damage to more than 80 different plant species, although the pest prefers maize, a major food staple in sub-Saharan Africa on which millions of people depend.

Scientists estimate that Africa will need an investment of at least $150 to $200 million annually over at least the next five years to mitigate potential Fall Armyworm damage through the use of effective management options, and to undertake research on strategic areas for devising and deploying an integrated pest management strategy.

“Fall Armyworm is one of the world’s most deadly crop pests, effectively managing this insect-pest requires an urgent multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder response,” said B.M Prasanna, director of the Global Maize Program at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the CGIAR Research Program on Maize.

ArmywormImage Prasanna will be participating in the 2017 Borlaug Dialogue in Des Moines, Iowa, and will part of a panel discussion, on October 19, titled “Fall Armyworm: A clear and present danger to African Food Security” to discuss the strategic approach for managing the pest in Africa. This will follow a short presentation on October 18, by Pedro Sanchez, the 2002 World Food Prize laureate, on the status and impact of Fall Armyworm in Africa.

As part of an internationally coordinated strategic integrated pest management approach to tackle the FAW in Africa, CIMMYT and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), together with experts from several national and international research organizations, are currently developing a comprehensive field manual. The manual will provide protocols and best management practices related to Fall Armyworm scouting, monitoring and surveillance; biological control; pesticides and pesticide risk management; host plant resistance; and sustainable agro-ecological management of Fall Armyworm, especially in the African context.

Regional training-of-trainers and awareness generation workshops are also being planned for November 2017 in southern and eastern Africa, and in West Africa in the first quarter of 2018. The training workshops are aimed at supporting pest control and extension actors to effectively scout, determine the need for intervention, and appropriately apply specific practices to control the pest in maize and other important crops in Africa.

For further information or to arrange interviews on-site or remotely, please contact Julie Mollins, CIMMYT communications: j.mollins (at) cgiar (dot) org

EVENT DETAILS

WHAT: B.M. Prasanna will be part of a panel discussion titled “Fall Armyworm: A clear and present danger to African Food Security” at the Borlaug Dialogue symposium to discuss the strategic approach for managing the pest in Africa.

WHEN: October 19, 2017, 7 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.

WHERE: Downtown Des Moines Marriott Hotel, 700 Grand Ave., Des Moines, Iowa.

WHO: B.M. Prasanna has been director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program since 2010 and the CGIAR Research Program on MAIZE since June 2015. Based in Nairobi, Kenya, Prasanna leads a multi-disciplinary CIMMYT-Global Maize Program team of 45 scientists located in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Asia. Prior to joining CIMMYT, Prasanna served as a faculty member and maize geneticist at the Division of Genetics, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), for nearly two decades. Since 2012, Prasanna has led intensive multi-institutional efforts to effectively tackle Maize Lethal Necrosis (MLN) in eastern Africa. He oversaw the establishment of a state-of-the-art Maize Doubled Haploid (DH) Facility in Kiboko, Kenya in 2013. He has also led the development of several successful public-private partnership projects and recognized with several awards and honors in India for his contributions to maize research, post-graduate teaching and human resource development.

ABOUT BORLAUG DIALOGUE: An annual three-day conference that attracts more than 1,200 delegates from around the world to discuss global food security and nutrition. The Borlaug Dialogue, which features scientists, policymakers, business executives and farmers, coincides with World Food Day and the awarding of the World Food Prize.

ABOUT CIMMYT: The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center – is the global leader in publicly-funded maize and wheat research and related farming systems. Headquartered near Mexico City, CIMMYT works with hundreds of partners throughout the developing world to sustainably increase the productivity of maize and wheat cropping systems, thus improving global food security and reducing poverty. CIMMYT is a member of the CGIAR System and leads the CGIAR Research Programs on Maize and Wheat and the Excellence in Breeding Platform. The center receives support from national governments, foundations, development banks and other public and private agencies. CIMMYT website: http://staging.cimmyt.org

New Publications: Using networks to disseminate agricultural innovations

Written by on October 12, 2017. Posted in Publications.

Harvester operator Sergio Araujo and truck driver Antonio Mejia harvest wheat for farmer Pedro Mejia near Popocatépetl volcano in Juchitepec, Estado de México. Photo: CIMMYT/P. Lowe

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – A new study examines how networks help spread new technologies and innovations in agriculture.

The study’s authors focused on the dissemination of innovations relating to conservation agriculture (CA) – practices based on the principles of minimal soil disturbance, permanent soil cover and crop rotation – and studied farmers working with Mexico’s Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture Initiative (MasAgro).

Current population trends and current climate change projections suggest that food insecurity is likely to rise. Farmer responsiveness to new practices and technologies will play a crucial role in determining if there will be adequate food production.

The study found that farmers mainly learn about new practices from each other through internal networks, but that depending on the type of information, may look beyond their close groups for input from research institutions and other external resources. In CA, producers mainly learn about machinery, crop rotation, minimum tillage and weeding from each other, but rely on research institutions for information about biofertilizers and pests. When information is obtained from external networks, producers tend to adopt new practices on a step by step basis, rather than as a collective uptake.

The majority of farmers in the study area adopted two to four CA practices, with only 21.5 percent of producers adopting an array of five or more CA practices, and less than ten percent adopting one or no practices. The most commonly adopted CA practices are those which reduce labor costs, increase yields and improve soil fertility such as weed management, use of quality seed and minimum tillage practices. The authors noted that many more farmers were willing to adopt a comprehensive CA package, but were hindered by a lack of resources and access to specialized machinery.

The results show that innovation diffusion must happen along several dimensions, through the first stage of innovation to adoption and adapting innovations to meet needs. These dimensions dynamically interact, and determine the dissemination of new ideas.

Producers rely on key actors within their internal networks to identify useful innovations, and on their entire internal network to spread the message. The study’s authors stated that there is an urgent need to establish networks that focus on creating pathways for sharing knowledge, information and practices among actors at different levels.

MasAgro is an initiative led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and Mexico’s Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA).

Read the full study “Innovation diffusion in Conservation Agriculture: a network approach” and check out other recent publications from CIMMYT staff below.

Impact of conservation agriculture on growth and development of rice-wheat and maize-wheat cropping system in western Indo-Gangetic plains. 2016. Choudhary, K.M., Nandal, D.P., Jat, M.L., Hooda, J.S., Verma, K.C. In: Annals of biology, vol.32, no.2 p.174-177.
Impact of informal groundwater markets on efficiency of irrigated farms in India: a bootstrap data envelopment analysis approach. 2016. Manjunatha, A.V., Speelman, S. Aravindakshan, S., Amjath-Babu, T.S., Puran Mal In: Irrigation Science, vol.34, p.41-52.
Implications of high temperature and elevated CO2 on flowering time in plants. 2016. Jagadish, K.S.V., Bahuguna, R.N. Djanaguiraman, M. Gamuyao, R. Prasad, V.P.V. Craufurd, P. In: Frontiers in Plant Science, vol.7, no. 913.
Irrigation water saving through adoption of direct rice sowing technology in the Indo-Gangetic Plains: empirical evidence from Pakistan. 2016. Ali, A., Dil Bahadur Rahut, Erenstein, O. In: Water Practice and Technology, vol. 11, no. 3, p. 610-620.
Identification and validation of single nucleotide polymorphic markers linked to Ug99 stem rust resistance in spring wheat. 2017. Long-Xi Yu, Shiaoman Chao Singh, R.P. Sorrells, M.E. In: PLoS One, v.12, no.2: e0171963.
Identification of heat tolerant wheat lines showing genetic variation in leaf respiration and other physiological traits. 2017. Suzuky Pinto, R., Molero, G., Reynolds, M.P. In: Euphytica, v. 213, no. 76, p.1-15.
Impacts of changing weather patterns on smallholder well-being: evidence from the Himalayan region of northern Pakistan. 2017. Ali, A., Dil Bahadur Rahut, Erenstein, O. In: International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management, v. 9, no. 2, p. 225-240.
Implications of less tail end water on livelihoods of small farmers in Pakistan. 2017. Ali, A., Dil Bahadur Rahut, Imtiaz, M. In: Outlook on Agriculture, vol. 46, no. 1, p. 36-43.
Improving agricultural knowledge management: The AgTrials experience. 2017. Hyman, G., Espinosa, H., Camargo, P., Abreu, D., Devare, M., Arnaud, E., Porter, C., Mwanzia, L., Sonder, K., Traore, S. In: F1000 Research, vol. 6, no. 317.

Project helps African farmers identify regional best practices

Written by on October 11, 2017. Posted in News.

MEXICO CITY (CIMMYT) – Traditional farming systems in Africa must be updated for today’s climate and market challenges, according to a new report by the University of Queensland.

The Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) is an international research-for-development project working directly with farmers to solve some of the challenges they face.

For example, the project has greatly improved food production in Mozambique since 2010. It is also promoting rotational cropping systems with legumes in Tanzania to improve soil fertility as well as dietary diversity, and in Malawi, rainfall erosion has been reduced by 80 percent as farmers leave plant residues on fields to improve stability.

“The exact details of best practice change everywhere you go in Africa,” said Caspar Roxburgh, a research officer at the University of Queensland who works with SIMLESA. “A lot of this research just hasn’t been done yet in Africa.”

SIMLESA seeks to have an open dialogue between farmers and scientists to identify what works best in individual areas and define best practices for the region.

“We find out who’s doing the best, learn from them, and then we do the science to back it all up,” explained Roxburgh.

Over the past seven years, SIMLESA has helped more than 200,000 farmers adopt sustainable technologies and practices, improving yields and income.

SIMLESA is funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and implemented by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the University of Queensland along with the governments of Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique.

Read more about how SIMLESA is changing how food is grown in Africa here.

Scaling sustainable agriculture in South Asia

Written by on October 11, 2017. Posted in News.

DAHKA, Bangladesh (CIMMYT) – A two-day regional policy dialogue on scaling conservation agriculture for sustainable intensification in South Asia was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh from September 8-9, 2017.

Delegates and participants of the regional policy dialogue on scaling conservation agriculture for sustainable intensification in South Asia in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Photo: Das, S./CIMMYT Bangladesh.

The event was a supported by the Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), and was organized jointly by the Trust for Advancement of Agricultural Sciences (TAAS) and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in collaboration with national agricultural research systems from across South Asia, CGIAR institutes and Australian Organizations. Government officials, researchers, and policymakers actively participated and deliberated challenges and ways forward to scale up sustainable agriculture in South Asia.

High input costs, depleted and degraded natural resources, indiscriminate and imbalanced use of chemical fertilizers and adverse effects from climate change make South Asia – home to about 1.766 billion people (one fourth of the world’s population) – one of the most food insecure regions in the world.

A region-wide shift from conventional agriculture to more sustainable technologies and practices, such as no-till farming or precision land leveling, is critical towards combating these challenges.

Raj Paroda, TAAS chairman, highlighted this need during the dialogue by calling for increased agricultural development assistance from international donors that focuses on mainstreaming sustainable agriculture, a key element in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a set of 17 global goals spearheaded by the United Nations to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all.

“The adaptation of conservation agriculture in South Asia, specifically in the Eastern Gangetic Plains, has shown impressive results in terms of saving costs and resources, and boosting income,” said John Dixon, Principal Advisor of ACIAR. “However, the widespread adaptation of conservation agriculture is held back by policy barriers. Institutions and policies have yet to be optimized in a way that facilitates and encourage [its] spread.”

According to Dixon, the regional policy dialogue allowed delegates to share experiences from their own countries and identify which policy changes, institutions and regulations can be adapted in a way that accelerates the widespread adoption of sustainable practices like conservation agriculture.

Paroda closed the dialogue by suggesting that delegates work towards enabling policies to increase funding, coordination and convergence of international private and public funder interest. He suggested the development of an active regional platform that would suggest a roadmap based on the current status, would help share knowledge, initiatives and advocate for policies relating to opportunities for capacity building and regional partnerships. He also identified that the promotion of new innovations through a network of young entrepreneurs and service providers and strong public-private partnerships as key elements to mainstreaming the adoption of sustainable agriculture across the region.

View the regional policy dialogue on scaling conservation agriculture for sustainable intensification here.

Study reveals new opportunities to cut greenhouse gas emissions in India

Written by on September 4, 2017. Posted in News.

India is one of the world’s largest contributors to global warming, but simple changes in farm management can drastically cut emissions while meeting food demand.

More than 122 million people could be thrown into extreme poverty by 2030 from climate change induced by global warming, mostly in Africa and Asia.

Agriculture is one of the largest contributors to global warming, with greenhouse gas emissions predicted to rise 30 percent over the next three decades due to rising populations and changing consumer preferences to high-emission foods like dairy and meat in these two regions.

India alone is the third largest emitter of greenhouse gasses in the world, with agriculture contributing the most greenhouse gas emissions in the country after electricity. With a population of more than 1.3 billion and increasing, ensuring sustainable agricultural development is critical to achieve the country’s 2015 climate plan to reduce emissions intensity 35 percent by 2030 and food security for the region.

In a recent study, we analyzed how cereal farmers in India’s Indo-Gangetic Plain – an area that feeds 40 percent of the country’s population – manage their crops and the impact different practices have on yield and emissions.

Reducing nitrogen fertilizer can cut emissions without compromising yield

Nitrogen fertilizer is a huge greenhouse gas emitter. Creating it involves burning a lot of fossil fuel, and is produced primarily using natural gas. When farmers apply it to their fields, rain washes much of it into surrounding bodies of water, while bacteria in the soil feed on what’s left, releasing a powerful greenhouse gas called nitrous oxide.

16 million tons of nitrogen fertilizer are currently being applied by Indian farmers to their fields. Our research shows that farmers in India can reduce emissions and increase yields through better nitrogen management.

Culture and economics have a huge impact on emissions and yields

We also found various cultural, economic, household and other social factors significantly determined whether farmers adopted low-emission technologies.

For example, households with high levels of education, large land holdings and access to agricultural advisory, as well as farmers who received training on climate change, were likely to adopt zero tillage, a practice that retains soil moisture, builds up nutrients and decreases greenhouse gas emissions.

Other farmers who received training on climate change along with crop, soil, water and seed management, and those having access to agricultural credit tend to adopt low-emission technologies such as split application of nitrogen and use of farm yard manure.

Overall, capacity building that increases farmers’ awareness and skills in agriculture and climate change contributes to increased production and reduced emission intensity for all households. Farmers’ societies, farm cooperatives and local non-governmental organizations can therefore play a vital role in encouraging farmers to adopt appropriate low-emissions practices and technologies.

Government action needed for low-emission agriculture in India

Knowing the impact of various social drivers and low-emission strategies, particularly the decrease of nitrogen fertilizer use, on agricultural development can help increase production and reduce emissions nationwide.

State and local governments must integrate policies and technology that enhance farmer access to new innovations like zero tillage and irrigation, and provide more information on efficient residue, farm manure and nitrogen fertilizer management. The government must also adopt multiple approaches that include targeted subsidies for sustainable technologies like zero tillage machinery and precision land levelers, mobilize local civil society organizations to increase knowledge about low-emission practices and use information communication technology to increase awareness and access to information about sustainable agricultural practices.

Most importantly, all mitigation-related interventions require investment decisions at the household level. Family and farm size, the gender of household head and many other factors rare critical to take into account in each intervention to successfully scale out low-emission practices and technologies.

Read the full study “Identifying high-yield low-emission pathways for the cereal production in South Asia” here.

Read the CCAFS blog “Report identifies high-yield, low-emission options for cereal systems in South Asia”

Read the 2016 CIMMYT Annual Report story “India farmers put aside the plow, save straw and fight pollution”

Wheat forum builds partnerships for sustainable intensification in Nepal

Written by on August 31, 2017. Posted in News.

KATHMANDU, Nepal (CIMMYT) — The Government of Nepal recently endorsed a new twenty-year agriculture development strategy that charts a progressive course of action to revitalize agriculture as an engine for economic growth and domestic food security.

At the center of this strategy is the recently launched the Prime Minister Agriculture Modernization Project (PMAMP). The project will be implemented over the next decade and has research and development mandates for productivity enhancement and commercialization of major cereals, fisheries, fruits and vegetables.

PMAMP emphasizes wheat production as a priority, especially in the Terai – a very productive agricultural area – in order to achieve national self-sufficiency in wheat production within the next three years. Meeting this extremely ambitious goal will require an unprecedented increase in average yields of 10 percent per year, and a high level of strategic coordination among organizations contributing to agricultural development in Nepal.

The PMAMP leadership has requested that the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) through its Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) act as a technical advisor and strategic partner to design and implement programs for staple crop production, including mechanization and seed systems.

On July 26-27 in Kathmandu, PMAMP and CSISA organized the first working group forum for wheat to begin to unite and coordinate efforts of 21 core public and private stakeholders working on extension, research and sector development.

Discussion at the forum emphasized the identification of proven best practices for sustainable intensification, consideration of scaling pathways for knowledge and technological innovations, knowledge gaps and areas for future research and joint work plan development for the 2017-2018 wheat season.

A four-member committee representing PMAMP, the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC), CSISA and the private sector has been created to guide implementation of the collaborative work plan for wheat intensification across Nepal.

Rajan Dhakal, senior agriculture officer at PMAMP, remarked that the forum was instrumental in identifying technical priorities and clarifying how the efforts of diverse partners can contribute to the food security goals of the Government of Nepal.

Y.P. Giri, chair and director of crops and horticulture at NARC, said he appreciated CSISA’s efforts to facilitate discussion and coordination across a diverse set of stakeholders through a common and action-oriented platform.

Drawing on the success of the wheat forum, PMAMP will convene meetings for maize and rice with support from NARC, CSISA and private sector partners this fall.

CIMMYT launched the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) in 2009 to promote durable change at scale in South Asia’s cereal-based cropping systems. CIMMYT operates rural “innovation hubs” in Bangladesh, India and Nepal to increase the adoption of various resource-conserving and climate-resilient technologies, and to improve farmer access to market information and enterprise development. Learn more about CSISA’s impact here.

CIMMYT’s wheat working group will serve as a strategic partner and provide technical advice for Nepal’s Prime Minister Agriculture Modernization Project. Photo: CSISA Nepal

New Publications: New environmental analysis method improves crop adaptation to climate change

Written by on August 15, 2017. Posted in Publications.

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – A new paper proposes researchers analyze environmental impacts through “envirotyping,” a new typing method which allows scientists to dissect complex environmental interactions to pinpoint climate change effects on crops. When used with genotyping and phenotyping – typing methods that assess the genetic and in-field performance of crops – researchers can more effectively adapt crops to future climates.

Climate change has significantly shifted weather patterns, which affects a number of farming conditions such as less reliable weather, extreme temperatures and declining soil and water quality. These extreme conditions bring a number of unexpected stresses to plants such as drought and new pests.

How a crop performs is largely dependent on the environment where it grows, making it crucial for breeders to analyze crops in growing areas. However, many breeding tools such as genetic mapping are based on the environment where phenotyping is performed, and phenotyping is often conducted under managed environmental conditions.

Envirotyping allows researchers to apply real-world conditions when assessing the performance of crops. It has a wide range of applications including the development of a four-dimensional profile for crop science, which would include a genotype, phenotype, envirotype and time.

Currently, envirotyping requires environmental factors to be collected over the course of multiple trials for use in contributing to crop modeling and phenotypic predictions. Widespread acceptance of this new typing method could help establish high-precision envirotyping, as well as create highly efficient precision breeding and sustainable crop production systems based on deciphered environmental impacts.

Read the full study “Envirotyping for deciphering environmental impacts on crop plants.” and check out other recent publications from CIMMYT staff below.

Effects of nitrogen fertilizer and manure application on storage of carbon and nitrogen under continuous maize cropping in Arenosols and Luvisols of Zimbabwe. Mujuru, L., Rusinamhodzi, L., Nyamangara, J., Hoosbeek, M.R. In: Journal of Agricultural Science, v. 154, p. 242-257.

Empirical evaluation of sustainability of divergent farms in the dryland farming systems of India. Amare Haileslassie, Craufurd, P., Thiagarajah, R., Shalander Kumar, Whitbread, A., Rathor, A., Blummel, M., Ericsson, P., Krishna Reddy Kakumanu In: Ecological indicators, v. 60, p. 710-723.

Evaluation of tillage and crop establishment methods integrated with relay seeding of wheat and mungbean for sustainable intensification of cotton-wheat system in South Asia. Choudhary, R., Singh, P., Sidhu, H.S., Nandal, D.P., Jat, H.S., Singh, Y., Jat, M.L. In: Field Crops Research, v. 199, p. 31-41.

Fertilizers, hybrids, and the sustainable intensification of maize systems in the rainfed mid-hills of Nepal. Devkota, K.P., McDonald, A., Khadka, L., Khadka, A., Paudel, G., Devkota, M. In: European Journal of Agronomy, v. 80, p. 154-167.

Detection and validation of genomic regions associated with resistance to rust diseases in a worldwide hexaploid wheat landrace collection using BayesR and mixed linear model approaches. Pasam, R.K., Bansal, U., Daetwyler, H.D., Forrest, K.L., Wong, D., Petkowski, J., Willey, N., Randhawa, M.S., Chhetri, M., Miah, H., Tibbits, J., Bariana, H.S., Hayden, M. In: Theoretical and Applied Genetics, v. 130, no. 4, p. 777-793.

Diallel analysis of acid soil tolerant and susceptible maize inbred lines for grain yield under acid and non-acid soil conditions. Mutimaamba, C., MacRobert, J.F., Cairns, J.E., Magorokosho, C., Thokozile Ndhlela, Mukungurutse, C., Minnaar-Ontong, A., Labuschagne, M. In: Euphytica, v. 213, no. 88, p.1-10.

Direct Nitrous Oxide emissions from Tropical And Sub-Tropical Agricultural Systems: a review and modelling of emission factors. Albanito, F., Lebender, U., Cornulier, T., Sapkota, T.B., Brentrup, F., Stirling, C., Hillier, J. In: Nature Scientific reports, v. 7, no. 44235.

Dissection of a major QTL qhir1 conferring maternal haploidinduction ability in maize. Nair, S.K., Molenaar, W., Melchinger, A.E., Prasanna, B.M., Martinez, L., Lopez, L.A., Chaikam, V. In: Theoretical and Applied Genetics, v. 130, p. 1113-1122.

Effect of the few-branched-1 (Fbr1) tassel mutation on performance of maize inbred lines and hybrids evaluated under stress and optimum environments. Shorai Dari, MacRobert, J.F., Minnaar-Ontong, A., Labuschagne, M. In: Maydica, vol. 62, p. 1-10.

Zero till climate-smart wheat-rice-bean crop rotations in India curb emissions

Written by on July 24, 2017. Posted in News.

A farmer walks through his rice field in Taraori village in Karnal, Haryana, India. CIMMYT/M.L. Jat — A farmer walks through his rice field in Taraori village in Karnal, Haryana, India. Photo: M.L. Jat/ CIMMYT

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) — Conservation agriculture techniques can help boost yields and profits for smallholder farmers in an intensively cultivated region of India while helping reduce the impact of agriculture on global warming, according to a new research report.

Hardy, high-yielding crop varieties can be resilient to erratic weather patterns caused by climate change, but agricultural intensification must be balanced with sustainable techniques to offset the effects of emissions caused by greenhouse gases.

As part of efforts to achieve agriculture-climate equilibrium, researchers at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) studied basmati (scented) rice-wheat crop rotation systems in India’s Northwestern Indo-Gangetic Plains, seeking an optimal planting strategy to lower impact on global warming while increasing farm profits.

Overall, they evaluated six different combinations of tillage, residue management and green gram (mung bean) integration into rice-wheat rotations, comparing conventional tillage techniques with conservation agriculture techniques in a village in the northern state of Haryana, known as the basmati rice heartland of India.

Green gram (mung beans) growing in Taraori village in Karnal, Haryana in India. CIMMYT/M.L. Jat — Green gram (mung beans) growing in Taraori village in Karnal, Haryana in India. Photo: M.L. Jat/ CIMMYT

“Through research we aimed to identify cropping systems in which greater yields could be achieved at lower production costs leading to higher profitability while minimizing soil and environmental trade-offs,” said M.L. Jat, a systems agronomist based in New Delhi with CIMMYT who worked on the project for more than five years.

“Our study concludes that two ways of managing crop rotation systems: zero tillage rice and zero tillage wheat planted in residue; and zero tillage rice, zero tillage wheat and green gram planted in residue in the rice-wheat systems of this region of India are agronomically productive, economically viable and beneficial for the environment in terms of soil health and greenhouse emissions,” Jat added, referring to the research paper in “Sustainability Journal” titled “Reducing Global Warming Potential through Sustainable Intensification of Basmati Rice-Wheat Systems in India.”

Specifically, scientists examined the best way to sustainably intensify crop production rotation systems to limit greenhouse gas emissions from soil, which include methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide, while adding a third crop to the rotation.

Scientists wanted to help increase production by making use of a normally fallow season from May to July, which marks a pause between growing rice (July to November) and wheat (November to April). Rather than extending the rice and wheat growing seasons, to keep the soil healthy in such a continuous cereal-cereal rotation, they added green gram (mung beans).

By planting basmati rice using a direct seeding method instead of the conventional tillage (puddling) and transplanted method, methane emissions can be reduced by as much as 50 percent, scientists learned. However, reducing methane emissions in a conservation agriculture rice-wheat system is counterbalanced by increased nitrous oxide emissions. Their research concluded that by combining zero tillage and residue retention in the crop growing system, carbon is sequestered in the soil, helping to prevent greenhouse gas emissions.

“Given the dynamics and interdependence of the three greenhouse gases under different management systems, it’s important that all three are measured to determine overall global warming potential of the production system to quantify the mitigation co-benefits of conservation agriculture-based sustainable intensification in basmati rice-wheat systems,” Jat said.

Sowing seeds without tilling or removing residue from the fields contrasted with general practice in the region where farmers typically use conventional agriculture techniques by tilling the soil and removing crop residue from field surfaces before planting.

Scientists determined that using zero tillage with residue retention techniques resulted in the lowest global warming potential. The percentage of Greenhouse gases (CO2-equivalent) released into the atmosphere (on a life cycle analysis basis that includes global warming potential from inputs, operations, emissions and soil organic carbon) was lower by approximately 8 tonnes per hectare per year.

Additional environmental benefits included improved soil health, eliminating residue burning and more efficient water use in fields planted with rice-wheat rotations where conservation agriculture techniques were used. The water use footprint was reduced by almost 30 percent in comparison with farms using conventional tillage systems.

Agriculture and climate change pose complex challenges for scientists trying to improve crop yields on smallholder farms in developing countries. Sustainable intensification based on conservation agriculture principles, including minimal soil disturbance, permanent soil cover, economical and diversified crop rotations, is an important strategy to combat the negative impact of agriculture on the climate and other natural resources while improving the income of smallholder farmers.

Agriculture is the second biggest emitter of greenhouse gases after the energy sector. About 65 percent of farm-related emissions come from methane caused by cattle belching and soil treated with natural or synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, according to the World Resources Institute.

International development targets established by the U.N. climate change agreement aim to curb warming by keeping global temperature increases well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

“If sustainable intensification practices are deployed on 26 million hectares of rice-wheat rotations in Asia, we have the opportunity to make a significant contribution to reducing global warming potential and mitigating the impact on the environment,” Jat said.

The study was co-funded by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change (CCAFS) and Bayer CropScience.