research: Sustainable agrifood systems

Secretary of Agriculture backs CIMMYT’s initiative for sustainable crop intensification in Bangladesh

Written by on January 29, 2013. Posted in News.

bangladesh15 Bangladesh has a mosaic of distinct agricultural seasons, potentially allowing farmers to cultivate two and sometimes three crops on the same field. However, in the impoverished region of Southern Bangladesh, only 50% of farmers currently grow more than one rainy season rice crop per year, a situation highly problematic for the world’s most densely populated country, where agricultural land is shrinking by 1% per year as urbanization accelerates.

The main limitations to increased cropping intensity are the procurement of irrigation during the dry season, the high cost of agricultural labor, and delays in rice harvesting that set back timely planting of the subsequent dry season wheat, maize, or legume crop. As population, and thus future cereals demand, grows, overcoming these constraints is becoming an increasingly pressing issue. For these reasons, CIMMYT works closely with public and private sector partners, local agricultural service providers, and farmers to encourage efficient agricultural mechanization, irrigation, and conservation agriculture (CA).

To raise awareness of CIMMYT’s work on sustainable crop intensification in Southern Bangladesh, CIMMYT-Bangladesh, in association with International Development Enterprises (iDE), hosted a field day in Kramji Char, Barisal, on 17 January 2013. The visit showcased activities of the EU-funded Agriculture, Nutrition and Extension Project (ANEP), as well as the USAID-funded Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia in Bangladesh (CSISA). CIMMYT was honored by the presence of a number of high-level public and private sector dignitaries, including Monzur Hossain (Ministry of Agriculture Secretary), Paul Sabatine (USAID-Bangladesh deputy mission director), Nazmul Islam (Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation chairman), Wais Kabir (Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council executive chairman), Krishibid Mukul Chandra Roy (Department of Agricultural Extension director general), Ahsan Khan Chowdhury (PRAN-RFL Group deputy managing director), and Anar Khalilov (USAID-Bangladesh senior food security advisor).

CIMMYT’s work in Kramji Char and much of Southern Bangladesh focuses on the sustainable provision of low-cost, fuel-efficient surface water irrigation using Axial Flow Pump (AFP) technologies, which can provide up to 46% more water per drop of diesel fuel consumed by diesel pumping. CIMMYT also popularizes the use of agricultural machineries with CA such as seeder-fertilizer drills, bed planters, and reapers that can be attached to two-wheel hand tractors. These implements enable more efficient planting and irrigation water use, while reducing labor requirements and saving farmers costs. Working with iDE, CIMMYT is developing business models for private sector and local machinery service provider partners to ensure farmers’ access to CA services at low-cost. At the completion of the field day, the Secretary of Agriculture concluded that “the demonstration of these machineries opens the door to increased crop productivity and farmers’ income.”

The field day was jointly organized by CIMMYT’s Timothy J. Krupnik, Yusuf Ali, Samina Yasmin, TP Tiwari, and Andrew McDonald. The event’s success would not have been possible without the valuable coordination and contribution of CIMMYT’s iDE partners, notably Rajiv Pardhan (Bangladesh country director), Nurul Amin (operations manager), Afzal Hossain Bhuiyan (business development specialist), and Richard Rose (ANEP Project Manager).

Climate Change and Agriculture: Building Resilience

Written by on January 7, 2013. Posted in Features.

This article is cross-posted from the Feed the Future blog. Feed the Future is the United States Government’s global hunger and food security initiative. It supports country-driven approaches to address the root causes of hunger and poverty and forge long-term solutions to chronic food insecurity and undernutrition. Drawing upon resources and expertise of agencies across the U.S. Government, this Presidential Initiative is helping countries transform their own agriculture sectors to sustainably grow enough food to feed their people.

Feed the Future strategies for food security are designed not only to accelerate agriculture-led growth and reduce undernutrition, but also to encourage sustainable and equitable management of land, water, fisheries, and other resources. Feed the Future Intern Christopher Chapman asked CIMMYT’s conservation agriculture expert Bruno Gerard (pictured left) how climate change relates to agricultural development.

Calls to adopt SIMLESA approach in project implementation across Tanzania

Written by on December 18, 2012. Posted in News.

“The Ministry, and specifically the Directorate of Research and Development, immensely commends SIMLESA’s participatory approach and would like to recommend it to other research and development partners both at national and international levels. By any means, this approach won’t ignore or omit farmer participation in variety dissemination, as was the case in the past. This participation exactly addresses the value chain approach that has been over emphasized by the Agricultural Sector Development Program that we are implementing in our country,” stated Fidelis Myaka (director of Research and Development, Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives, Tanzania) in a speech read on his behalf by Ruth B. Madulu, Agricultural Research Institute (ARI)-Mikocheni at the recently concluded Tanzania SIMLESA 2012 Progress Review and 2013 Planning Meeting in Arusha.

Recent conference gets wheat back on Africa’s map

Written by on November 5, 2012. Posted in News.

DSCN0042 Wheat is increasingly in demand in sub-Saharan Africa as a result of income growth and the demand for convenience foods as more women enter the workplace, but sub-Saharan countries and Africa as a whole produce only about 30% and 40%, respectively, of their domestic requirements, causing a heavy dependence on imports and making the region highly vulnerable to global market and supply shocks.

This was one conclusion reached by some 250 researchers, policymakers, farmer, and seed company representatives who attended the conference “Wheat for food security in Africa: Science and policy dialogue about the future of wheat in Africa,” held in Addis Ababa during 08-12 October 2012. Organized by Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), CIMMYT, ICARDA, IFPRI, the African Union, and WHEAT-the CGIAR research program, the event was intended to raise awareness about the potential to grow wheat and reduce the region’s imports of the crop, as well as to discuss policy, institutional, and infrastructure constraints. “In 2012, African countries will spend about US$12 billion to import some 40 million tons of wheat,” said Hans Braun, director of CIMMYT’s global wheat program. “If Africa does not push for wheat self-sufficiency, it could face more hunger, instability and even political violence, as bread riots in North Africa showed in recent years.”

Participants hailed from 23 African nations, as well as from Asia, Europe, and the Americas, and included 4 ministers of agriculture (Burundi, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Zimbabwe) and the directors of national agricultural research programs of 16 countries in Africa. Deemed a great success by participants and organizers, the event and the issues discussed were reported widely in regional and global media, including major outlets such as Nature, New Scientist, Le Monde, BBC Radio, and Deutsche Welle, as well as key wire services like Reuters-Thomson, Associated Press, and Bloomberg. An equally important outcome was the “Addis Declaration” formulated by conference participants and intended to get wheat onto Africa’s policy map as a strategic product for food security, according to Bekele Shiferaw, director of CIMMYT’s socioeconomics program and a co-author of a major report1 on wheat farming in Africa. “Unlocking the potential of wheat will require changes in attitudes, policy and donor support for adapting farming systems, empowering African farmers, and developing value chains for seeds, input supply, and output markets,” Shiferaw said.

The busy four-day agenda included visits to Ethiopia’s premier agricultural research stations at Kulumsa and Debre Zeit. The conference program committee would like to thank all who contributed, but special recognition goes to logistics team of Petr Kosina, Bekele Abeyo, and Dave Hodson. Presentations, publications, media reports, and posters are available on the conference web page.

MasAgro conservation agriculture technicians graduate

Written by on November 2, 2012. Posted in News.

masagro4 After 12 months of work and dedication, on 19 October 2012 technicians from different parts of Mexico were recognized for their efforts in an August graduation ceremony for the “Technicians Certified in Conservation Agriculture” course. The 48 graduates constitute the third generation of specialists trained to provide technical advice and assistance to new farmers as part of the “Take it to the Farmer” initiative of the Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture (MasAgro) program.

Held at CIMMYT-El Batán, the ceremony was attended by dignitaries including Francisco Mayorga Castañeda, Mexico’s Secretary of Agriculture; Mariano Ruiz Funes, Mexican Undersecretary of Agriculture; Bruno Gerard, director of CIMMYT’s global conservation agriculture program; Bram Govaerts, leader of “Take it to the Farmer”; Heriberto Ortega Ramírez, Secretary of Agriculture and Livestock Development for the State of Mexico; and Rodrigo Sánchez Mújica, Director General of the Mexican Trust Funds for Rural Development (FIRA).

In his talk to the graduates and other guests, Mayorga Castañeda highlighted the key role of MasAgro in bringing change to farming in Mexico, thus increasing food production while promoting sustainable development, and said the technicians were central to this occurring: “I hope their activities will be successful and the knowledge they have acquired will be applied, for this will undoubtedly bring positive results for rural Mexico.”

In 2011, more than 12,000 farmers benefitted from the training of 2,500 technicians. “With the support of these newly-trained technicians, we hope to significantly expand the 21,000 hectares currently under conservation agriculture in Mexico,” said Govaerts.

Training to build maize breeding capacity in Africa

Written by on October 30, 2012. Posted in News.

CursoAfrica2 Thirty-six senior maize breeders from fifteen African countries participated in a course in Nairobi, Kenya, from 1 to 4 October 2012. The course attracted participants from national agricultural research systems, private seed companies, and universities collaborating within the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) Initiative, Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS) Project, Sustainable Intensification of Maize- Legume Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) initiative, Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Systems for the Eastern Province of Zambia (SIMLEZA), Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA), and a USAID-funded project on heat stress in maize.

Throughout the course, breeders were introduced to new germplasm, recent advances in maize breeding for biotic and abiotic stresses, breeding informatics tools (e.g. IMIS-Fieldbook and IB-Fieldbook developed by the Generation Challenge Program), approaches to improving quality of phenotyping, molecular breeding tools, and the use of doubled haploid technologies in maize breeding. They also visited fields in Kiboko to assess breeding nurseries and yield trials and to interact with CIMMYT breeders.

The course participants had the opportunity to attend presentations by a private-sector representative. Walter Trevisan from WEMA/ Monsanto covered the origin of maize and importance of the heterotic pools in maize breeding around the world. “We learn from the partnership that we can work as a team and, most of the time, reach goals ahead of time,” said Trevisan, stating that he is looking forward to the future projects such as WEMA II. “We really enjoy working with CIMMYT and the national agricultural research systems,” he added.

According to Ntji Coulibaly from Mali, training for breeders helps to build capacity within African countries. “Mali has only five seed companies serving the country, thus it is imperative to build the skill base in breeding,” he explained. Coulibaly then praised CIMMYT for its leadership role in breeding in Africa: “It has raised the bar for private institutions to improve and develop better products in the region.” Bhola Verma from ZAMSEED, a private seed company operating in Zambia, also appreciated the training initiative. “We need to train more people,” he said, reiterating the importance of training the next generation of breeders to ensure the continent does not lag behind. Zubeda Mduruma, Tanzanian maize breeder from Aminata Quality Seed, was excited about -her newly gained knowledge on doubled haploid breeding technology. “It is very handy and will shorten our time for breeding,” said Mduruma. Doubled haploid technology enables breeders to save time and labor costs associated with conventional breeding, while allowing them to get varieties benefiting farmers within a shorter period of time.

Simon Gichuki, Kenya Agriculture Research Institute (KARI) Biotechnology Program coordinator, urged participants to explore and use the technological tools, and to train breeders working with them. Gichuki said that the key challenges facing African agriculture include diseases, pests, and climate change. “We feel that we can contribute to mitigating these [challenges] by engaging in science,” said Gichuki, adding that this could be achieved by ensuring that breeders regularly update their knowledge. “In crop science things move very fast,” he explained. Sylvester Oikeh, WEMA project manager at the African Agricultural Technology Foundation, urged participants to embrace mentorship and share their knowledge and skills with young breeders. Oikeh also appreciated the opportunity to see what DTMA is doing in relation to WEMA’s breeding work.

Shehu Ado from the Institute for Agricultural Research, Samaru, Nigeria, said the training would benefit his students. “I will encourage my students to apply it in their own work,” said Ado about Fieldbook, “my students are going to gain a lot as analysis will be simplified.” Thokozile Ndlela, Zimbabwean Ministry of Agriculture, expressed her excitement about the developments made in Fieldbook, as well as the new advancements in maize breeding.

The course facilitators were drawn from CIMMYT, Generation Challenge Program, and Monsanto. The course was coordinated by Cosmos Magorokosho and Stephen Mugo, CIMMYT maize breeders from Zimbabwe and Kenya, respectively.

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Conservation agriculture for smallholder maize farmers in Jharkhand, India

Written by on October 22, 2012. Posted in News.

Farming in Jharkhand in eastern India is typically characterized by land degradation, moisture stress, low cropping intensity, poor biomass production, and low farm income. To address these issues faced largely by smallholder farmers, a conservation agriculture (CA) project was initiated in 2011 by CIMMYT in collaboration with Birsa Agricultural University (BAU) and Ranchi and Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), with support from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). A stakeholder consultation/field day was organized on 8 October 2012 jointly by CIMMYT and BAU at Ranchi, Jharkhand, to demonstrate the benefits of CA in sustainable intensification. The event was attended by over 150 participants, including the vice chancellor and other key officers of BAU, CIMMYT scientists, and farmers from three districts of Jharkhand. In addition, representatives from three private companies attended the field day to showcase their latest products and to discuss their support for scalingup seed production of existing commercial and advanced hybrids.

SP Poonia, CIMMYT scientist based at Ranchi, provided an overview of activities and progress of the IFAD “Sustainable Intensification of Smallholder Maize-Livestock Farming Systems in Hill Areas of South Asia” project. Poonia shared salient achievements on sustainable intensification of maize systems using CA-based crop management technologies, and on quality protein maize performance. Raj Gupta from CIMMYT-India stressed that farmers can produce more yield under CA with less supplemental irrigation. He further emphasized that farmers need to consider mechanised farming to ensure timely planting and to realize the full potential of available resources on a sustainable basis.

Ken Sayre from CIMMYT-Mexico appreciated the farmers for efficient adoption of CA within one year since the launch of the project. He then focused on relations between farmers and researchers to enhance knowledge sharing and appreciated the cooperation and vast presence of BAU officials, private sector representatives, and farmers, demonstrating a strong partnership aiming to help the farmers. Sayre also shared his experience with CA-based crop management technologies from Mexico and elsewhere. R.P. Singh Ratan, BAU Extension Director, added that seed companies form a vital link in delivering improved maize varieties to farmers. They are also crucial in training local mechanics and making need-based corrections to CA machineries. He further added that CA techniques are indispensable for conserving natural resources. MP Pandey, Vice Chancellor of BAU and chief guest of the event, appreciated farmers’ feedback on CA-based technologies. He then applauded the CIMMYT and BAU teams for their work both on station and on farmers’ fields in remote areas. He assured his full support for further scaling out of CA-based technologies in the state to achieve more efficient management of natural resources. The event was followed by a field visit and in-field interactions. Officials present at the event included DK Singh ‘Dron’ (ADR, BAU), R Thakur (Chairman of Agronomy), ZA Haider (Chairman of PBG), and other eminent scientists from BAU.

Conservation agriculture: the future of farming in western Kenya

Written by on October 8, 2012. Posted in News.

A-trial-plot-with-a-well-established-Desmodium Longer periods of drought and erratic and below-average rainfall in western Kenya have been making farming increasingly difficult over the years. In combination with declining soil fertility and deep-rooted practices of low-farm input application, agricultural productivity in the region has been on steep decline, leaving many farmers desperately staring at famine. However, with introduction of conservation agriculture (CA) via the Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Cropping Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) initiative in 2010, Kenyan farmers regained hope.

SIMLESA activities are implemented in western and eastern regions by the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) with technical support from CIMMYT and financial assistance from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). Over the last two years, SIMLESA has been conducting on-farm trials using CA techniques: minimum tillage, crop residue management, intercropping/crop rotation (with maize and beans or desmodium), and participatory variety selection trials. Members of Tumaini Farmers Field School, Bungoma County, western Kenya, have been using these techniques. “We were in a desperate situation. Maize for us is not only our staple crop; it is also a major cash crop. But yields have been dwindling to levels where they could not sustain our food requirements,” stated Geoffrey Wanjala, the group chairman. “However, conservation agriculture has brought fortunes. With soils regaining fertility and farmers adopting good agricultural practices, yields have started increasing.

Conservation agriculture has also come with low farming costs, as we do not have to invest in time consuming, labor intensive, and costly ploughing and weeding activities. We have decided to adopt the conservation agriculture because of these benefits.”

The success of the trials encouraged KARI and CIMMYT to organize a farmers’ field day to demonstrate the performance of CA technologies. The field day was held in Kanduyi Division, Bungoma South District, Bungoma County, on 17 August 2012, and attracted farmers from other SIMLESA districts in eastern Kenya and over 20 exhibitors, including Kyeni Innovation Learning Platform (ILePs), Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Livestock Development, seed and fertilizer companies, World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), agro-dealers, and community-based organizations in agriculture, energy, and health.

John Achieng, KARI-agronomist, reiterated KARI’s and CIMMYT’s commitment to developing resilient farming systems that can guarantee good yields even when faced with vagaries of climate change and degraded soils. “KARI will continue to develop new and improved technologies for enhanced agricultural productivity and improved livelihoods,” said Achieng.

George Ayaga, deputy center director of KARI-Kakamega and SIMLESA western Kenya coordinator, lauded the partnerships in implementing SIMLESA, particularly ILePs, noting that they managed to reduce competition among stakeholders, thus enhancing collaboration and reducing implementation costs for partner organizations. “Together you can approach farmers with holistic packages to agricultural production and ensure competitiveness of the agricultural products,” he added. Ayaga also noted that field days were critical in showcasing the best technologies, taking the technologies from the station to farmers’ fields, and involving farmers in the research process through their feedback. Alponkina Nyagah, Kyeni ILePs chairlady, stated that SIMLESA’s work on CA will be crucial for hunger reduction in Kenya.

SIMLESA achievements and challenges in Southern Africa

Written by on October 4, 2012. Posted in News.

The Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) initiative held its annual review and planning meetings for Southern Africa in Chimoio, Mozambique (3-4 September 2012), and Lilongwe, Malawi (6-7 September 2012).

The meeting in Mozambique was attended by 47 participants from the national agriculture research system (NARS) from Sussundenga, Rutanda, Manica, Angonia, and Gorongossa active in SIMLESA-Mozambique, and researchers from the Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research (ACIAR), CIMMYT, International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI) in association with the Queensland Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation (QDEEDI), and Agriculture Research Council of South Africa (ARC-SA). It was opened by Feliciano Mazuze on behalf of the director general of Instituto de Investigaçao Agraria Mozambique (IIAM), and praised by John Dixon, ACIAR principal regional coordinator and research program manager, who congratulated the SIMLESA team on the promising achievements to date.

The participants had the opportunity to attend site-specific presentations by NARS partners and discuss new partnerships with the private sector and NGOs willing to join SIMLESA. These new partners include Dengo Commercial, Associação dos Produtores de Oleaginosas (IDEAA-CA), and Instituto Superior Politécnico de Manica (ISPM). They agreed on expanding SIMLESA activities in new communities in line with the SIMLESA target of reaching out to 100,000 farmers within 10 years. The meeting was concluded with presentation of certificates of participation to extension staff and IP members who had participated in the training facilitated by ARC-SA in Chimoio, Mozambique.

The Malawi meeting was attended by 36 NARS officials from Kasungu, Mitundu, Balaka, Ntcheu, Salima, and Mchinji active in SIMLESA-Malawi, and researchers from CIMMYT, QAAFI in association with QDEEDI, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), ARC-SA, Malawi Agricultural Sector Wide Approach (ASWAp), Bunda College of Agriculture, and CPM Agri-Enterprises. Mackson Banda, program steering committee member, expressed satisfaction with the levels of achievements within SIMLESA-Malawi during his opening speech, as significant improvements have been achieved in program implementation and data generation since the last in-country review and planning meeting. The meeting consisted of presentations on adoption survey findings, on-station trial results, and conservation agriculture. The participants agreed that scaling out the initiatives and the innovation platforms engagement remain to be the key challenges. To address some of the issues, ASWAp agreed to include farmers participating in SIMLESA in the government-initiated subsidy program.

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Partners meet in Ethiopia to launch Adoption Pathways

Written by on October 1, 2012. Posted in News.

The first planning and inception meeting of the ‘Identifying socioeconomic constraints to and incentives for faster technology adoption: Pathways to sustainable intensification in Eastern and Southern Africa’ (Adoption Pathways project) took place at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) campus in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, during 13-15 September 2012. The meeting was attended by over 25 participants from 5 universities and research institutes (Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, and Mozambique), international partner universities (University of Queensland, Australia, and Norwegian University of Life Sciences), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), CIMMYT, Australian International Food Security Center (AIFSC), Australian Center for International Agriculture Research (ACIAR), and resource persons from US universities.

The Adoption Pathways project is a continuation of a fruitful partnership between ACIAR and African researchers which began under the Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) initiative led by CIMMYT. It is funded by the newly established AIFSC, which is housed in ACIAR and whose mission is to “accelerate demand-driven research, delivery and adoption of innovations to improve food security.”

The project focuses on the socioeconomic, policy, institutional, risk, and agro-climatic constraints and/or incentives that affect farmers’ technology-adoption behavior. Building on the success of SIMLESA, the Adoption Pathways project will systematically collect and analyze household, plot, and village level data from sentinel villages representing maizelegume based farming systems in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, and Mozambique. Data collected from the sentinel villages will help monitor longterm trends and development changes, and fill the knowledge gaps in designing programs and policies that accelerate technology adoption, stimulate productivity growth, and lead to sustainable agricultural intensification pathways. The planned activities will be implemented in close collaboration with the SIMLESA team to ensure that the knowledge and outputs generated by this project will help bridge the gap between agricultural research and adoption of research outputs. Bronnie Anderson-Smith, AIFSC executive officer, and John Dixon, ACIAR senior adviser/research program manager, highlighted the unique opportunity provided by the project to contribute towards three core strategic focal areas of AIFSC: access to food; education, training, and gender research; and building resilient farming systems.

Throughout the meeting, project participants became familiar with methodological innovations in adoption and impact analysis, gender integration in household level data collection, modeling approaches to determine vulnerability and risk management strategies, conducting risk experiments, and developing econometric and economy-wide models to estimate the impact of technology adoption.

During the closing session, Lisa Filipetto, the Australian Ambassador to Ethiopia, emphasized the important role economists play in integrating the elements of marketing, value-chain analysis, and income generation in technology adoption. “Participants should get involved in policy dialogue in their respective countries so that the ‘adoption pathways’ lead to outcomes and impacts,” she said, adding that “this meeting symbolizes the beginning of the start of a pioneering partnership between AIFSC, CIMMYT, and other national and international partners.”

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Feed the Future delegation visits CIMMYT-Bangladesh

Written by on September 25, 2012. Posted in News.

Bangladesh25 The CIMMYT team in Bangladesh hosted a highprofile field visit on September 1, 2012, for a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) delegation consisting of Paul Weisenfeld (USAID Assistant to the Administrator for Global Food Security), Deniese Rollins (Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator for the USAID Asia Bureau), and Richard Green (USAID Bangladesh Mission Director). The purpose of the visit was to rapidly assess the activities of Feed the Future, an initiative supported by the US government, across Southern Bangladesh.

The delegation visited Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia in Bangladesh (CSISA-BD) project activity locations and other USAID partners. During the visit to CSISA-BD (a collaboration between CIMMYT, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), and World Fish Center), cropping system agronomists Timothy J. Krupnik and Abdul Momin led a presentation jointly developed with Andrew McDonald on CIMMYT’s priority activities in scale-appropriate mechanization to achieve sustainable intensification of cereal-based farming systems. The USAID team appreciated CIMMYT’s emphasis on expanding surface water irrigation to eliminate unproductive fallows in Southern Bangladesh using axial flow pump technology. Additional discussion ensued on improving rainwater productivity using strip-tillage and conservation agriculture; bed-planting to save irrigation costs and mitigate soil arsenic contamination; CIMMYT’s work on labor-saving multi-crop reapers; and CSISA-BD’s emphasis on private sector integration and the promotion of viable business models for agricultural and tillage service providers. Following the presentation, Scott Justice, machinery expert and CIMMYT consultant, led a hands-on demonstration on seederfertilizer drills for strip tillage and raised bed-planters that can be attached to two-wheeled tractors. CIMMYT’s work to increase farmer and service provider adoption of these tools will increase in the future with USAID’s continued support for the CSISA-BD project.

Conservation agriculture in Zambia: less labor and higher yields

Written by on September 24, 2012. Posted in News.

Zambia To reduce farm labor, improve soil productivity and crop yields, and contribute towards food security of farming households in the changing climate environment, CIMMYT, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), and the Zambian Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI) introduced and expanded conservation agriculture (CA) in Zambia. The activities are implemented under the Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume based Cropping Systems for Food Security in Eastern Province of Zambia (SIMLEZA) project funded by USAID.

CA entails reduced or no tillage systems, keeping crop residue on the soil surface as mulch, and using crop rotation. It increases the infiltration of water in the soil and thus reduces soil erosion and surface run-off of water that is desperately needed for plant production. This is a crucial change in regions like Zambia’s Eastern Province, where most smallholder farmers engage in the traditional ridge and furrow farming and planting maize in monocropping. While ridging was once promoted as a measure against erosion and high intensity rainfall, it now shows its drawbacks: ridge preparation, mostly done by women and children, is long, tedious, and difficult as most farmers use hoes. Furthermore, farm productivity in Eastern Zambia is already generally low due to increasingly erratic rainfall, low fertilizer use, soil degradation, pests and diseases in the monocropped maize, and weeds, which leads to yields too low to sustain households’ food requirements from one harvest to the next. Crop rotation and diversification help farmers arrest the spread of disease and reduce the risk of crop failure. In addition, they enable farmers to grow cereals and legumes, a source of cash and food crops to boost household incomes.

To address these issues, CIMMYT organized community meetings to raise awareness on CA and conducted training sessions for extension officers and farmers to build knowledge, capacity, and skills. Facilitators from CIMMYT and IITA led a hands-on training for extension officers in November 2011. The extension officers then went on to train farmers in their communities and facilitated the establishment of demonstration plots, where they showcased successful examples of CA systems. The demonstration plots serve as learning centers for farmers in each community. Farmers also have a chance to share information on CA through farmer-to-farmer exchange visits, field days, and community meetings.

Maren Tembo, who hosts a demonstration plot in the Mangena community in Chipata District, is excited about this new technology: “The practice demands less labor, which enables me to grow other crops such as groundnuts, tobacco, and cotton. I’m looking forward to earning additional income from these crops to supplement my current household budget.” Another farmer from the district, Mulenga Zulu, has also benefitted from the project. “My crop shows greater yields than before. I anticipate higher profits as a result of applying CA on my farm,” he says. Like Tembo, he is also happy about the reduced labor demands.

Menkir-and-group-IITA-Training-Aug-2012_JohnMacRobert Having experienced CA, both Tembo and Zulu hope that more farmers will adopt the practice. “This project should continue so that others can learn from us that we do things differently now,” she added. Learning about CA has enabled Tembo to lessen the challenges her family faces, especially the tedious labor in preparing the field. Zulu is proud to see that other farmers admire what they see on his farm.

The future of the project is promising: with testimonies from fellow farmers, assistance from dedicated extension workers, and community media broadcasts, more farmers in the neighboring districts are bound to pick up the practice. Besides higher yields for less work, there is an added long-term bonus for the farmers: their interaction with service providers, initiated through the project, will improve their market access for both farm inputs and outputs.

SIMLESA researchers discuss monitoring and evaluation

Written by on September 20, 2012. Posted in News.

Simlesa-prgram-ME The fourth workshop on monitoring and evaluation (M&E) organized by the Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) initiative took place at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) campus, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, during 27 July – 1 August 2012. Following recommendations from the previous meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, the workshop aimed to update SIMLESA country performance monitoring plan and train M&E focal persons and country objective coordinators in qualitative data collection, participatory design of data collection tools, and data quality management for Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania.

The workshop was opened by Enock Warinda (Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa– ASARECA) and attended by 16 participants, including CIMMYT scientists, Dagne Wegary and Menale Kassie. Participants shared their experiences with data collection under SIMLESA and discussed potential ways to strengthen the data collection system. At the end of the workshop, the country M&E focal persons were tasked to develop M&E concepts for their respective countries to be funded and implemented through ASARECA and CIMMYT. To follow up on these activities, Peter Beine (ASARECA) and Austin Ngindi (CIMMYT-SIMLESA) will visit SIMLESA countries to assist with data quality assessment.

Representing CIMMYT at the ICAE in Brazil

Written by on September 11, 2012. Posted in News.

ICAE-socioeconomics1 A team of scientists from CIMMYT’s socioeconomics program participated in the 28th triennial International Conference of Agricultural Economists (ICAE) in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, during 18-24 August 2012. ICAE, which is considered the key platform for the preservation of international agricultural and development economics research, brought together over 700 researchers and provided an opportunity to share new research ideas, methods, and tools.

The CIMMYT team presented more than 20 papers and posters and organized symposia in various sessions. Hugo de Groote and Bekele Shiferaw presented during a preconference workshop on ‘Innovations in Impact Assessment of Agricultural Research: Theory and Practice’ organized by the CGIAR Standing Panel on Impact Assessment. Several externally reviewed papers contributed by the CIMMYT team were accepted for oral and poster presentations during the conference. The presenters included Bekele Shiferaw, Menale Kassie, Olaf Erenstein, Hugo De Groote, Zachary Gitonga, Asfaw Negassa, Moti Jaleta, Sika Gbegbelegbe, Mulugetta Mekuria, and Surabhi Mittal. CIMMYT PhD students also presented their work, which is supported by CIMMYT projects.

CIMMYT and partners organized symposia on the Impact Pathway of Modern ICT on Agricultural Growth in South Asia and Africa (Mittal); Challenges in Assessing and Developing Seed Systems in Emerging Markets (Erenstein); Experimental Methods for Propoor Value Chain Development (De Groote and Matty Demont of Africa Rice Centre); Understanding the Drivers of Sustainable Intensification of Smallholder Agriculture (Mekuria); Challenges in Assessing and Valuing Drought Tolerance in Risk-prone Agricultural Systems (Erenstein); Bio-economic Modeling for Analysis of Food Security and Climate Change (Gbegbelegbe and Shiferaw); and Emerging Role of Grain Marketing Boards (GMBs) in Africa (Shiferaw with Michigan State University partners).

The conference also provided an opportunity to socialize and network with colleagues old and new. The current socioeconomics team enjoyed meeting with former directors Derek Byerlee, Prabhu Pingali, and John Dixon, and former colleague Greg Traxler, for some informative and enlightening discussions.

Capacity building in gender mainstreaming for SIMLESA

Written by on August 15, 2012. Posted in News.

The Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) initiative held its third workshop on gender mainstreaming at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) campus, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, during 24-27 July 2012. Following recommendations from the previous meeting in Tanzania, this workshop aimed to compile field-related case studies on gender mainstreaming activities, and to harmonize gender mainstreaming action plans for five SIMLESA countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania. Twenty participants from these five countries attended, and, for the first time, extension officers from SIMLESA sites in each of the five countries also participated. The workshop was opened by Dagne Wegary on behalf of SIMLESA Program Coordinator Mulugetta Mekuria, and facilitated by Forough Olinga, Gender Expert at the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA), Enock Warinda, Monitoring and Evaluation Unit leader at ASARECA, Daisy Namono, Consultant, and Ruth Nankinga, Administrative Assistant at ASARECA. Bekele Shiferaw, CIMMYT Socioeconomics Program Director, and Menale Kassie, Socioeconomist and SIMLESA Objective 1 Coordinator, also contributed encouragement and insight on mainstreaming gender within SIMLESA. The extension officers shared their field experiences which were then used to identify good practices and potential case studies for further development. At the end of the workshop, the participants developed country gender mainstreaming action plans to be funded and implemented, created a format for the case studies, and agreed to submit at least eight case studies to Olinga and Namono for evaluation by 26 August 2012. To follow up, Namono will visit SIMLESA countries to finalize the case studies for publication before the end of the year.