The challenges facing our food system are growing, both in size and in complexity. In order to tackle these issues and meet the needs of our changing world, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) understands the importance of assembling a workforce that is diverse, creative and representative. In addition to encouraging STEM careers and hiring more women in scientific positions, we must also foster a more encouraging scientific community for women whose careers are just sparking.
Whether it is through a school field trip, a first internship or a PhD thesis project, CIMMYT is committed to encouraging young women to step into the lab and the fields, and up to the challenge, as we strive to create a more equitable community. On the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we are inspired by the words of some of the many brilliant women whose scientific careers are just beginning, lighting the pathway to a more equitable future.
The International Day of Women and Girls in Science is particularly meaningful to CIMMYTâs new Global Wheat Program (GWP) Director, Alison Bentley. Listen and watch as she tells her story, from her first lightbulb moment on a high school field trip, to a leadership position in the wheat research world.
In celebration of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, CIMMYT is participating in a unique marathon event, carrying a global conversation with CGIAR women scientists that are leading change and creating solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges.
Powered by Women in Research and Science (WIRES), a new employee-led resource group at CGIAR, the event will showcase the many ways women scientists are transforming the way we look at our food, land and water systems around the world. In addition to learning about cutting-edge science, you’ll be able to engage with inspiring speakers in 13 different countries.
Join CIMMYTâs discussion on February 11, 2021, at 1:00 p.m. CST, and learn about the journeys of the 2020 BĂ€nziger Award recipients, an engaging Q&A with four CIMMYT scientists, and our vision for a more equitable workforce. Register for the event.
Australiaâs High Commissioner to India, Barry Oâ Farrell (left), observes the use of drone technology at the BISA experimental station in Ludhiana, India. (Photo: Uttam Kumar/CIMMYT).
Australiaâs High Commissioner to India, Barry OâFarrell, visited the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) in Ludhiana, India, on January 20, 2021 along with his delegation.
OâFarrell acknowledged the historic role of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) sharing the seeds of the most recent, climate-resilient, high-yielding, and disease-resistant wheat genotypes. He also appreciated that this work is being continued with even greater vigor by BISA for the benefit of India and the whole of South Asia.
The High Commissioner was happy to note that wheat germplasm is freely shared with public and private sector national partners under constant guidance and collaboration with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the Department of Agriculture Research and Education (DARE).
OâFarrell emphasized the strong collaboration between Indian and Australian research institutes. He called for even more cross-learning between scientists and other stakeholders for research, policy and capacity development in the areas of land, water, climatic resilience, environmental sustainability and germplasm enhancement for the benefit of farmers of both countries.
Witnessing science in action
Arun Kumar Joshi, CIMMYT Regional Representative for Asia and Managing Director of BISA, welcomed the group and briefed the visitors on CIMMYT and BISAâs collaboration with ICAR and DARE.
H.S. Sidhu, Principal Research Engineer at BISA, and M.L. Jat, Principal Scientist and Systems Agronomist at CIMMYT, presented the major challenges and research outputs related to climate change, the food-energy-water nexus and the overall agricultural sustainability challenges faced by India.
One of the successful examples of collaboration between Australia and India is the Happy Seeder, which addresses these challenges through conservation agriculture and sustainable intensification. OâFarrell saw the expansive wheat fields sown with the Happy Seeder and was impressed by the technology.
The group also discussed the evidence-based policy changes that have taken place, as well as future strategies for accelerated impact through new approaches, like carbon farming. A detailed discussion took place on climate-smart agriculture research, with a focus on precision water and nutrient management using digital agriculture technologies and their complementarity for boosting Happy Seeder uptake.
The High Commissioner and his delegation also visited the wheat breeding program, where CIMMYT researcher Uttam Kumar explained the development of wheat genotypes â in collaboration with ICAR-DARE and the national agriculture research system â for a range of environments, management conditions, and against various stresses, with the ultimate objective of serving the needs of smallholder farmers.
OâFarrell also appreciated the BISA-designed Phenocart for high-throughput precision phenotyping in wheat improvement. OâFarrell highlighted and appreciated that this season, BISA is conducting the largest wheat breeding trial in South Asia: currently more than 60,000 plots are planted at the BISA station in Ludhiana alone.
The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind (left) and the Minister of External Affairs, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar (right) announce the award to Ravi Singh. (Photo: Ministry of External Affairs, India)
Ravi Singh, Distinguished Scientist and Head of Global Wheat Improvement at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), has received the highest honor conferred by the Government of India to non-resident Indians.
The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award recognizes outstanding achievements by non-resident Indians, persons of Indian origin, or organizations or institutions run by them either in India or abroad. Awardees are selected for their support to Indiaâs causes and concerns by a committee led by the Vice President and the Minister of External Affairs of India. The awardees, according to the awards website, ârepresent the vibrant excellence achieved by our diaspora in various fields.â The online award announcement ceremony took place on January 9, 2021, with India’s President Ram Nath Kovind as a chief guest.
Ravi Singh, whose career at CIMMYT spans 37 years, was recognized for his invaluable contributions to wheat research and the development and training of scientists that have increased food production and nutritional security in Mexico, India and numerous other countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
âThe award recognizes and values many years of wheat breeding at CIMMYT, where I had the opportunity, privilege and satisfaction to have contributed and made impacts through our invaluable partners in India and many other countries,â Singh said. âBy continuously providing superior varieties, we increased wheat production and incomes of millions of smallholder farming families.â
Singhâs nomination cited his contribution to the development, release and cultivation by national partners worldwide of over 550 wheat varieties over the past three decades. These national partners include the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and its affiliated institutions in India. These varieties, sown annually on over 40 million hectares by as many farmers, add over $1 billion annually to farmersâ incomes through increased productivity and built-in disease resistance, thus reducing chemical dependence to a negligible level.
Ravi Singh (left, in striped shirt) shows students how to score the seed of freshly-harvested wheat lines at CIMMYT’s experimental station near Ciudad ObregĂłn, Mexico, during the international Wheat Improvement Course in 2007. (Photo: CIMMYT)
âGreat teamwork leads to breakthroughs â and is the only way to achieve a common goal. Dr. Ravi Singhâs work alleviating hunger is a great service to mankind,â said Gyanendra Pratap Singh, director of the ICAR Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research (ICAR-IIWBR). âWe are proud to have him on our team.â
âThis award recognizes Dr. Ravi Singhâs important contribution to CIMMYT wheat breeding, delivering major impacts to wheat production and smallholder livelihoods in India, and around the world,â said Alison Bentley, director of CIMMYTâs Global Wheat Program.
Over his career, Singh has nourished and further expanded an already strong partnership between CIMMYT, ICAR and various agricultural universities in India by developing and sharing each year new, diverse wheat varieties possessing increased grain and straw yields, resistance to diseases such as rusts, spot blotch and blast, climate resilience, and processing and nutritional quality.
Over the past decade, Singhâs team developed about half of the wheat varieties released in India through the ICAR network. These include the countryâs first high-yielding biofortified varieties, WB-2 and PBW1-Zn, released in 2017 to benefit Indiaâs zinc-deficient population.
Millions of farmers in India continue to grow CIMMYT wheat varieties or their derivatives developed by Indian institutions, to ensure safe and abundant harvests and better nutrition.
Ravi Singhâs numerous recognitions include membership as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Phytopathological Society (APS), the Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), the American Society of Agronomy (ASA) and Indiaâs National Academy of Agricultural Science (NAAS). His awards include the Outstanding CGIAR Scientist Award, the CSSA Crop Science Research Award, the University of Minnesota E.C. Stakman Award, and the China State Councilâs Friendship Award, among others. He has been included among the top 1% of highly cited researchers according to Clarivate Analytics-Web of Science every year since 2017. Singh also serves as Adjunct Professor at Cornell University and Kansas State University.
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) was awarded a $5 million grant from the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) to develop climate-resilient wheat.
Byrd C. Curtis, director of CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program from 1982 to 1988. (Photo: CIMMYT)
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) sadly notes the passing of Byrd C. Curtis, former Director of the Global Wheat Program, on January 7. He was 95 years old and lived in Fort Collins, Colorado, USA, with his wife Eloise Curtis.
From his studies at Oklahoma State University to retiring after a fruitful international career with Colorado State University, Cargill Inc. and CIMMYT, he never got weary of sharing his passion for breeding better, tastier and sturdier wheat to improve peoplesâ livelihoods.
He was an innovator at heart and his legacy will live on through Colorado State Universityâs wheat breeding program and the many wheat varieties he developed. Not only did he start Colorado State Universityâs wheat breeding program in 1963, but he also ensured that the varieties that were bred by his team reflected the needs of humanity for decades to come, such as the hard, red winter wheat variety named after himself.
Curtis worked at CIMMYT from 1982 and 1988 as Director of the Global Wheat Program. Together with his team, he worked to position CIMMYT as the leading international research-for-development and breeding organization for wheat for years to come.
âByrd was very keen to build oral communication skills of scientists, which has been very helpful to me,â said Ravi Singh, Head of Global Wheat Improvement at CIMMYT. âHe also initiated the Turkey-CIMMYT-ICARDA International Winter Wheat Improvement Partnershipâs (IWWIP) winter wheat breeding program and even worked there in Turkey in his final year with CIMMYT to ensure it would take off well.â
Byrd was instrumental and showed tremendous foresight. IWWIPâs establishment in Turkey became first major breeding program within CGIAR that was hosted by a national program. He strongly supported the creation of the Wide Crossing Program. The synthetic wheat varieties developed in this program have had global impact on wheat improvement.
Aside from his remarkable technical legacy, Byrd had a knack for choosing the right people for the job. In the six years as Director of the Global Wheat Program, he hired scientists who held major roles in global wheat improvement: Ravi Singh, Distinguished Scientist and Head of Global Wheat Improvement; Wolfgang Pfeiffer, former leader of spring bread wheat, durum wheat, and triticale crop improvement; and Hans Braun, Director of the Global Wheat Program from 2004 to 2020.
âByrd not only initiated the winter wheat program,â said former Global Wheat Program Director Hans Braun, who was hired by Byrd in 1983. âHe was also director when the tropical wheat program was implemented in Thailand.â This programâs work increased yields up to 1.5 tons per hectare but ultimately did not convince Thai farmers. Nevertheless, Braun said, âOne of the oddest experiences Iâve had was to see our winter wheat material from Turkey grown in the Thai jungle!â
After retiring from his professional life in 1991, Curtis and his wife Eloise moved back to Fort Collins, where his career started in the 1960s and where he will be remembered by his townspeople â and fellow athletes and gym-goers â for his determination and active lifestyle.
The CIMMYT community sends its deepest sympathies and wishes for peace to the Curtis family.
Wheat constitutes 20% of all calories and protein consumed, making it a cornerstone of the human diet, according to the United Nations. However, hotter and drier weather, driven by a changing climate, threatens the global wheat supply. To address this threat, the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) awarded a $5 million grant to the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) to develop climate-resilient wheat. CIMMYT leads global research programs on maize and wheat, sustainable cropping systems and policies to improve farmersâ livelihoods. These activities have driven major gains in wheat variety improvement across the globe for decades; in the US alone, for example, over 50% of the wheat acreage is sown with CIMMYT-related varieties.
Wheat is among the most widely grown cereal crops in the world and the third-largest crop grown in the US by acre. Nearly all US wheat crops are improved and supported by public agriculture research. As most wheat in the US is dependent on rainfall and has no access to irrigation, this research is critical for helping the plants â and producers â weather climatic changes including extreme heat and drought. Additionally, the demand for wheat is expected to rise in the coming years â as much as 60% by 2050. Without public research, wheat production could decrease by nearly 30% over the same period due to extreme climate conditions.
âFFAR leverages public agriculture research funding through public-private partnerships to pioneer actionable research. With temperatures on the rise and water becoming scarcer, we are committed to supporting wheat farmers and providing new wheat varieties designed with future environmental challenges in mind,â said FFARâs Executive Director Sally Rockey.
Using the FFAR grant, CIMMYT researchers are pioneering wheat breeding technologies to produce heat-tolerant, drought-resistant and climate-resilient wheat.
CIMMYT researchers and collaborators are applying cutting-edge approaches in genomics, remote sensing and big data analysis to develop new breeding technologies. A key intervention will explore the vast and underutilized reserve of wheat genetic resources to fortify the crop against current and future climate-related stresses.
âThis project will help bridge a longstanding gap between state-of-the-art technological findings and crop improvement to deliver climate resilient wheat to farmers as quickly as possible,â said Matthew Reynolds, head of Wheat Physiology at CIMMYT and principal investigator of the project.
Breakthroughs from the FFAR funded project will achieve impact for growers via the International Wheat Improvement Network (IWIN) that supplies new wheat lines to public and private breeding programs worldwide, and has boosted productivity and livelihoods for wheat farmers for over half a century, especially in the Global South.
The research and breeding supported by FFAR will be conducted under the Heat and Drought Wheat Improvement Consortium (HeDWIC), a project led by CIMMYT in partnership with experts across the globe, designed to ensure wheatâs long-term climate resilience. Under the umbrella of the Wheat Initiativeâs AHEAD unit, the most relevant advances in academia will be channeled to HeDWIC to help further boost impacts.
ââHeat,â âdroughtâ and âwheatâ are three of the most important words for billions of people,â said CIMMYT Interim Deputy Director for Research Kevin Pixley. âThis partnership between CIMMYT and FFAR will help ensure that the best agricultural science is applied to sustainably raise production of one of the worldâs most important staple crops, despite unprecedented challenges.â
CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff said, âThis project represents not only a breakthrough to develop wheat for the future, but also an emerging partnership between CIMMYT and FFAR. I look forward to a productive collaboration that will move us all closer to our mission of maize and wheat science for improved livelihoods.â
About the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research
The Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) builds public-private partnerships to fund bold research addressing big food and agriculture challenges. FFAR was established in the 2014 Farm Bill to increase public agriculture research investments, fill knowledge gaps and complement USDAâs research agenda. FFARâs model matches federal funding from Congress with private funding, delivering a powerful return on taxpayer investment. Through collaboration and partnerships, FFAR advances actionable science benefiting farmers, consumers and the environment.
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) 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.
Ravi Singh, Distinguished Scientist and Head of Global Wheat Improvement at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), received the highest honor conferred by the Government of India to non-resident Indians.
Singh, whose career at CIMMYT spans 37 years, was recognized for his invaluable contributions to wheat research and the development and training of scientists that have increased food production and nutritional security in Mexico, India and numerous other countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Hannes Karwat works across the Global Wheat Program and the Sustainable Intensification Program on strategies to improve nitrogen use efficiency in the smallholder wheat-based systems of the Global South. His research background is based on soil-plant-microbe interactions and nitrogen cycling in cropping systems, and his current research focus at CIMMYT is on Biological Nitrification Inhibition (BNI).
During the past few years, Karwat has gained considerable experience working with international and national research institutes and NGOs in Latin America and Asia.
A researcher from the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) walks through a wheat field in India. (Photo: BISA)
New research by an international team of scientists, including scientists from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), shows that adopting a portfolio of conservation agriculture and crop diversification practices is more profitable and better for the environment than conventional agriculture.
Reported last month in Nature Scientific Reports, the results of the study should encourage farmers and policymakers in South Asia to adopt more sustainable crop management solutions such as diversifying crop rotations, direct-seeding rice, zero tillage and crop residue retention.
Rice-wheat has for a long time been the dominant cropping system in the western Indo-Gangetic plains in India. However, issues such as water depletion, soil degradation and environmental quality as well as profitability have plagued farmers, scientists and decision makers for decades. To tackle these issues, researchers and policymakers have been exploring alternative solutions such as diversifying rice with alternative crops like maize.
âClimate change and natural resource degradation are serious threats to smallholder farmers in South Asia that require evidence-based sustainable solutions. ICAR have been working closely with CIMMYT and partners to tackle these threats,â said SK Chaudhari, deputy director general of the Natural Resource Management at ICAR.
In the study, CIMMYT scientists partnered with the ICAR-Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA), Swami Keshwan Rajasthan Agriculture University and Cornell University to evaluate seven cropping system management scenarios.
The researchers measured a business-as-usual approach, and six alternative conservation agriculture and crop diversification approaches, across a variety of indicators including profitability, water use and global warming potential.
Wheat grows under a systematic intensification approach at the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) in India. (Photo: BISA)
They found that conservation agriculture-based approaches outperformed conventional farming approaches on a variety of indicators. For example, conservation agriculture-based rice management was found to increase profitability by 12%, while decreasing water use by 19% and global warming potential by 28%. Substituting rice with conservation agriculture-based maize led to improvements in profitability of 16% and dramatic reductions in water use and global warming potential of 84% and 95%. Adding the fast-growing legume mung bean to maize-wheat rotations also increased productivity by 11%, profitability by 25%, and significantly decreased water use by 64% and global warming potential by 106%.
However, CIMMYT Principal Scientist and study co-author M.L. Jat cautioned against the allure of chasing one silver bullet, advising policymakers in South Asia to take a holistic, systems perspective to crop management.
âWe know that there are issues relating to water and sustainability, but at the same time we also know that diversifying rice â which is a more stable crop â with other crops is not easy as long as you look at it in isolation,â he explained. âDiversifying crops requires a portfolio of practices, which brings together sustainability, viability and profits.â
With South Asia known as a global âhotspotâ for climate vulnerability, and the regionâs population expected to rise to 2.4 billion by 2050, food producers are under pressure to produce more while minimizing greenhouse gas emissions and damage to the environment and other natural resources.
âTackling these challenges requires strong collaborative efforts from researchers, policymakers, development partners and farmers,â said Andrew McDonald, a systems agronomist at Cornell University and co-author of the study. âThis study shows this collaboration in action and brings us closer to achieving resilient, nutritious and sustainable food systems.â
âThe results of this study show that one-size doesnât fit all when it comes to sustainable crop management,â said PC Sharma, director of Indiaâs ICAR-Central Soil Salinity Research Institute (ICAR-CSSRI). âFarmers, researchers and policymakers can adopt alternative crop rotations such as maize-wheat or maize-wheat-mung bean, but they can also improve existing rice-wheat rotations using conservation agriculture methods.â
On November 13, 2020, researchers from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the Bangladesh Wheat and Maize Research Institute (BWMRI) held a virtual meeting to update Bangladesh’s Minister for Agriculture Md Abdur Razzaque on their organizationsâ ongoing research activities regarding the development of sustainable, cereal-based farming systems.
The purpose of this event was to inform influential stakeholders of the implications of the impending transition to One CGIAR for collaborative research activities in Bangladesh and how CIMMYT will continue its support to the its partners in the country, including the government and other CGIAR centers. The event was chaired by CIMMYTâs Director General Martin Kropff, who called-in from CIMMYTâs headquarters in Mexico, and Razzaque, who attended the event as a special guest. Around 21 participants from various government offices including the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) and the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) were in attendance.
Speaking at the event, Razzaque thanked CIMMYT for its support in increasing maize and wheat production in Bangladesh â as the main source of germplasm for these two crops â which has been crucial for assuring food and income security and helping the country reach towards the Sustainable Development Goals. He expressed his gratitude for CIMMYTâs help in mitigating the threats posed by pests and diseases, and supporting climate information services which have enabled farmers to avoid crop losses in mung bean, and he requested that CIMMYT to intensify its research on cropping systems, heat- and disease-tolerant wheat varieties, and the introduction of technologies and farming practices to sustainably increase production and reduce wheat imports.
Martin Kropff gives an overview of CIMMYT research in Bangladesh during a virtual meeting with stakeholders. (Photo: CIMMYT)
Timothy J. Krupnik, CIMMYTâs country representative for Bangladesh, guided participants through the history of CIMMYTâs engagement in Bangladesh from the 1960s to the present and outlined the organizationâs plan for future collaboration with the government. In addition developing wheat blast-resistant varieties, exchanging germplasm and seed multiplication programs for disease-resistant varieties, Krupnik described collaborative efforts to fight back against fall armyworm, research in systems agronomy to boost crop intensity and the use of advanced simulation models and remote sensing to assist in increasing production while reducing farm drudgery, expensive inputs, water and fuel use, and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.
He also highlighted efforts to create a skilled work force, pointing to CIMMYTâs collaboration with the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) on appropriate agricultural mechanization and USAID-supported work with over 50 machinery manufacturers across the country.
âThis historical legacy, alongside world-class scientists and committed staff, germplasm collection, global impact in farmerâs fields, next generation research and global network of partners have made CIMMYT unique,â explained Kropff during his closing remarks, which focused on the organizationâs research and collaboration on climate-smart and conservation agriculture, high-yielding, stress- and disease-tolerant maize and wheat variety development, value chain enhancement, market development, precision agronomy and farm mechanization in Bangladesh.
He expressed his gratitude towards the Government of Bangladesh for supporting CIMMYT as an international public organization in the country, thus enabling it to continue delivering impact, and for recognizing the benefits of the transition to a more integrated network of international research centers through One CGIAR, under which CIMMYT and other centers will strengthen their support to the government to help Bangladesh achieve zero hunger.
Wheat fields at Toluca station, Mexico. (Photo: Fernando Delgado/CIMMYT)
On December 11, 2020, the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) announced the release of six new wheat varieties for multiplication and distribution to the countryâs wheat farmers, offering increased production for Nepalâs nearly one million wheat farmers and boosted nutrition for its 28 million wheat consumers.
The varieties, which are derived from materials developed by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), include five bred for elevated levels of the crucial micronutrient zinc, and Borlaug 100, a variety well known for being high yielding, drought- and heat-resilient, and resistant to wheat blast, as well as high in zinc.
âReleasing six varieties in one attempt is historic news for Nepal,â said CIMMYT Asia Regional Representative and Principal Scientist Arun Joshi.
âIt is an especially impressive achievement by the NARC breeders and technicians during a time of COVID-related challenges and restrictions,â said NARC Executive Director Deepak Bhandari.
âThis was a joint effort by many scientists in our team who played a critical role in generating proper data, and making a strong case for these varieties to the release committee, â said Roshan Basnet, head of the National Wheat Research Program based in Bhairahawa, Nepal, who was instrumental in releasing three of the varieties, including Borlaug 2020.
âWe are very glad that our hard work has paid off for our countryâs farmers,â said Dhruba Thapa, chief and wheat breeder at NARCâs National Plant Breeding and Genetics Research Centre.
Nepal produces 1.96 million tons of wheat on more than 750,000 hectares, but its wheat farmers are mainly smallholders with less than 1-hectare holdings and limited access to inputs or mechanization. In addition, most of the popular wheat varieties grown in the country have become susceptible to new strains of wheat rust diseases.
The new varieties â Zinc Gahun 1, Zinc Gahun 2, Bheri-Ganga, Himganga, Khumal-Shakti and Borlaug 2020 â were bred and tested using a âfast-trackâ approach, with CIMMYT and NARC scientists moving material from trials in CIMMYTâs research station in Mexico to multiple locations in Nepal and other Target Population of Environments (TPEs) for testing.
âThanks to a big effort from Arun Joshi and our NARC partners we were able to collect important data in first year, reducing the time it takes to release new varieties,â said CIMMYT Head of Wheat Improvement Ravi Singh.
The varieties are tailored for conditions in a range of wheat growing regions in the country â from the hotter lowland, or Terai, regions to the irrigated as well as dryer mid- and high-elevation areas â and for stresses including wheat rust diseases and wheat blast. The five high-zinc, biofortified varieties were developed through conventional crop breeding by crossing modern high yielding wheats with high zinc progenitors such as landraces, spelt wheat and emmer wheat.
âZinc deficiency is a serious problem in Nepal, with 21% of children found to be zinc deficient in 2016,â explained said CIMMYT Senior Scientist and wheat breeder Velu Govindan, who specializes in breeding biofortified varieties. âBiofortification of staple crops such as wheat is a proven method to help reverse and prevent this deficiency, especially for those without access to a more diverse diet.â
Borlaug 2020 is equivalent to Borlaug 100, a highly prized variety released in 2014 in adbMexico to commemorate the centennial year of Nobel Peace laureate Norman E. Borlaug. Coincidently, its release in Nepal coincides with the 50th anniversary of Borlaugâs Nobel Peace Prize.
NARC staff have already begun the process of seed multiplication and conducting participatory varietal selection trials with farmers, so very soon farmers throughout the country will benefit from these seeds.
âThe number of new varieties and record release time is amazing,â said Joshi. âWe now have varieties that will help Nepalâs farmers well into the future.â
CIMMYT breeding of biofortified varieties was funded by HarvestPlus. Variety release and seed multiplication activities in Nepal were supported by NARC and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) through collaboration with ADB Natural Resources Principal & Agriculture Specialist Michiko Katagami. This NARC-ADB-CIMMYT collaboration was prompted by World Food Prize winner and former HarvestPlus CEO Howarth Bouis, and provided crucial support that enabled the release in a record time.
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) 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. For more information, visit staging.cimmyt.org.
ABOUT NARC:
Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) was established in 1991 as an autonomous organization under Nepal Agricultural Research Council Act – 1991 to conduct agricultural research in the country to uplift the economic level of Nepalese people.
ABOUT ADB:
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. It assists its members and partners by providing loans, technical assistance, grants, and equity investments to promote social and economic development.
Farmer Roba Shubisha harvests an improved maize variety in Yubo village, Wondo Genet, Ethiopia. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)
With almost all CGIAR centers represented in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia is considered to be a hub for CGIAR research, and the organization has been a long-term partner to the Ethiopian government when it comes to agriculture. The partnership between CGIAR and the national partners is said to be an exemplary one, with CGIAR serving as the source of new technologies and innovations and national partners contextualizing these products within their own country context. This is believed to have brought impacts that serve the people on the ground.
A new report by CGIARâs Standing Panel on Impact Assessment (SPIA) indicates that CGIAR innovations have reached between 4.1 and 11 million Ethiopian households. The report â which assesses 52 agricultural innovations and 26 claims of policy influence â documents the reach of CGIAR-related agricultural innovations across the core domains of CGIAR research activity: animal agriculture; crop germplasm improvement; natural resource management; and policy research.
The study compiles comprehensive information on the past two decades of CGIAR research activities in Ethiopia. Using information from interviews with CGIAR research leaders, scientists, government officials, published studies and project documents, this âstocktakingâ exercise was used to identify the innovations which are potentially disseminated at scale. The study also employs novel data collection protocols and methods like visual aid protocols for identification of natural resource management innovations or DNA fingerprinting for crop variety identification for barley, maize and sorghum.
The study results show that although many innovations are being adopted by some farmers, only a few are reaching large numbers of households. The three innovations with the largest reach are soil and water conservation practices, improved maize varieties and crossbred poultry. The study also found out that there are synergies between innovations where households adopt two or more. For instance, a household which adopts CGIAR maize varieties is likely to also adopt recommended natural resource management practices.
This, according to the study, is the result of different categories of CGIAR research efforts â natural resource management and policy, crop breeding and livestock research, respectively. The scaling of these innovations can also be linked to supportive government policies, which in turn have been influenced by policy research, as indicated in the report.
A farmer walks through a maize field in Toga village, Hawassa, Ethiopia. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)
CIMMYTâs footprint
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) has maintained a presence in Ethiopia for over 30 years and is committed to supporting long-term agricultural development in the country. As part of this effort, CIMMYT has contributed to an increase in maize and wheat production in Ethiopia, working with national partners to test and release improved varieties.
The maize breeding program started in 1988 through CIMMYT and EIAR collaboration and in 1993 BH-660 was released â the first hybrid maize variety derived from CIMMYT germplasm. According to the report, specific maize traits were researched through the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) and Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa Seed Scaling (DTMASS) projects, and since 2012 the Nutritious Maize for Ethiopia (NuME) project has aimed to develop varieties with higher protein content. Overall, 54 maize varieties have been released in Ethiopia since 1990, and 34 of these are thought to contain CIMMYT-related germplasm. It is also noted that, in the past 20 years ten drought-tolerant varieties and eight quality protein maize (QPM) varieties have been released.
In terms of geographical spread, the study highlights that improved maize varieties derived from CGIAR germplasm were highly adopted in the regions of Harar and Dire Dawa, which account for 81% of adopters overall. Adoption rates were also high in Tigray (79.3% of households), Amhara and the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region (63% of households), and Oromia (58.4% of households).
The other important crop in Ethiopia is wheat, which is grown by up to 4.8 million farmers in the country, according to the 2019 Central Statistics Authority (CSA) report. The SPIA document indicates that CGIAR innovations have played great role in the release and uptake of improved wheat varieties. The work of the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat (WHEAT), for instance, has resulted in the release of eight rust-resistant varieties derived from CIMMYT germplasm that are still under production. Of the 133 varieties released since 1974, CIMMYT and the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) played a role in developing at least 80.
The report concludes that agricultural research carried out by CGIAR scientists and their national partners generates many new ideas for innovations that might help address pressing policy concerns. CGIARâs contribution to Ethiopiaâs agricultural development is complex and wide-ranging, and while some aspects cannot be accurately captured by survey data, this new source of adoption and diffusion data helps identify the scale and scope of CGIARâs reach in Ethiopia.
The Standing Panel on Impact Assessment (SPIA) is an external, impartial panel of experts in impact assessment appointed by the System Council and accountable to it. SPIA is responsible for providing rigorous, evidence-based, and independent strategic advice to the broader CGIAR System on efficient and effective impact assessment methods and practices, including those measuring impacts beyond contributions to science and economic performance, and on innovative ways to improve knowledge and capacity on how research contributes to development outcomes
COVID-19 didnât slow us down! In 2020, our editors continued to cover exciting news and events related to maize and wheat science around the world. Altogether, we published more than 250 stories.
It is impossible to capture all of the places and topics we reported on, but here are some highlights and our favorite stories of the year.
Thank you for being a loyal reader of CIMMYTâs news and features. We are already working on new stories and campaigns for 2021. Sign up for our newsletter and be the first to know!
The 2019 EAT-Lancet Commission report defines specific actions to achieve a âplanetary health dietâ enhancing human nutrition and keeping resource use of food systems within planetary boundaries. With major cereals still supplying about one-third of calories required in the proposed diet, the way they are produced, processed, and consumed must be a central focus of global efforts to transform food systems. This article from our annual report argues three main reasons for this imperative.
Farmers are increasingly adopting conservation agriculture practices. This sustainable farming method is based on three principles: crop diversification, minimal soil movement and permanent soil cover.
A team of scientists has completed one of the largest genetic analyses ever done of any agricultural crop to find desirable traits in wheatâs extensive and unexplored diversity.
A new study analyzing the diversity of almost 80,000 wheat accessions reveals consequences and opportunities of selection footprints. (Photo: Eleusis Llanderal/CIMMYT)
The new AGG project aims to respond to the climate emergency and gender nexus through gender-intentional product profiles for its improved seed varieties and gender-intentional seed delivery pathways.
Farmer Agnes Sendeza harvests maize cobs in Malawi. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)
Maize lethal necrosis (MLN) has taught us that intensive efforts to keep human and plant diseases at bay need to continue beyond the COVID-19 crisis. We interviewed B.M. Prasanna, director of the Global Maize Program at CIMMYT and the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE), to discuss the MLN success story, the global COVID-19 crisis, and the similarities in the challenge to tackle plant and human viral diseases.
We had a similar conversation with Hans Braun, Director of the Global Wheat Program and the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat, who taled to us about the need for increased investment in crop disease research as the world risks a food security crisis related to COVID-19.
Maize Lethal Necrosis (MLN) sensitive and resistant hybrid demo plots in Naivashaâs quarantine & screening facility (Photo: KIPENZ/CIMMYT)
Seven ways to make small-scale mechanization work for African farmers.
Local female artisan, Hawassa, Ethiopia. (Photo: CIMMYT)
Cover photo: A member of a women farmers group serves a platter of mung bean dishes in Suklaphanta, Nepal. (Photo: Merit Maharajan/Amuse Communication)
Direct sowing of wheat seed into a recently-harvested rice field using the âHappy Seederâ implement, a cost-effective and eco-friendly alternative to burning rice straw, in northern India. (Photo: BISA/Love Kumar Singh)
Compared to conventional tillage practices, sowing wheat directly into just-harvested rice fields without burning or removing straw or other residues will not only reduce pollution in New Delhi and other parts of northern India, but will save over $130 per hectare in farmer expenses, lessen irrigation needs by as much as 25%, and allow early planting of wheat to avoid yield-reducing heat stress, according to a new study published in the International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability.
The practice requires use of a tractor-mounted implement that opens grooves in the soil, drops in wheat seed and fertilizer, and covers the seeded row, all in one pass. This contrasts with the typical method for planting wheat after rice, which involves first burning rice residues, followed by multiple tractor passes to plow, harrow, plank, and sow, according to Harminder S. Sidhu, principal research engineer at the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) and a co-author of the study.
âThere are already some 11,000 of these specialized no-till implements, known as the Happy Seeder, in operation across northern India,â said Sidhu, who with other researchers helped develop, test and refine the implement over 15 years. âIn addition to sowing, the Happy Seeder shreds and clears rice residues from the seeder path and deposits them back onto the seeded row as a protective mulch.â
Covering some 13.5 million hectares, the Indo-Gangetic Plain stretches across Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan and constitutes South Asiaâs breadbasket. In India, the northwestern state of Punjab alone produces nearly a third of the countryâs rice and wheat.
Some 2.5 million farmers in northern India practice rice-wheat cropping and most burn their rice straw â an estimated 23 million tons of it â after rice harvest, to clear fields for sowing wheat. Straw removal and burning degrades soil fertility and creates a noxious cloud that affects the livelihoods and health of millions in cities and villages downwind. Air pollution is the second leading contributor to disease in India, and studies attribute some 66,000 deaths yearly to breathing in airborne nano-particles produced by agricultural burning.
The central and state governments in northwestern India, as well as universities and think-tanks, have put forth strategies to curtail burning that include conservation tillage technologies such as use of the Happy Seeder. Subsidies for no-burn farming, as well as state directives and fines for straw burning, are in place and extension agencies are promoting no-burn alternatives.
A farmer in India uses a tractor fitted with a Happy Seeder. (Photo: Dakshinamurthy Vedachalam/CIMMYT)
As an aid for policy makers and development practitioners, the present study applied econometrics to compare conventional and zero-tillage in terms of yield, input levels and implications for rice residue burning. The study also compared use of the Happy Seeder versus a simple zero-tillage drill with no straw shredder. Participants included more than 1,000 farm households in 52 villages, encompassing 561 users of conventional tillage, 226 users of simple zero-tillage seeding implements, and 234 Happy Seeder users.
They found that only the Happy Seeder was able to sow wheat directly into large amounts of rice residues, with significant savings for farmers and equal or slightly better wheat yields, over conventional tillage. The Happy Seeder also saves time and water.
âGiven the benefits of sowing wheat using the Happy Seeder against the tremendous health and environmental costs of residue burning, the reduction or elimination of straw burning should be pushed forward immediately,â said P.P. Krishnapriya, research scientist at the Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University, and a co-author of the article. âInvestments in social marketing and policies that foster the use of the Happy Seeders, including significant subsidies to purchase these machines, must be accompanied by stricter enforcement of the existing ban on residue burning.â
The study also found that the information sources most widely-available to farmers are currently geared towards conventional agricultural practices, but farmers who use the internet for agricultural information are more likely to be aware of the Happy Seeder.
âAwareness raising campaigns should use both conventional and novel channels,â said Priya Shyamsundar, lead economist at the Nature Conservancy (TNC) and co-author of the article. âAs with any innovation that differs signiïŹcantly from current practices, social and behavioral levers such as frontline demonstrations, good champions, and peer-to-peer networking and training are critical.â
In addition, rather than having most individual farmers own a Happy Seeder â a highly-specialized implement whose cost of $1,900 may be prohibitive for many â researchers are instead promoting the idea of farmers hiring direct-sowing services from larger farmers or other people able to purchase a Happy Seeder and make a business of operating it, explained Alwin Keil, a senior agricultural economist with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and lead author of the new study.
âWe are extremely grateful to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the Nature Conservancy, and the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat Agri-Food Systems (WHEAT), who supported our research,â said Keil.
âWe want to feed the people, we donât want them to go hungry. We have to do something to make sure there is food on the table. That is where my motivation is⊠Let there be food to eat.â
â Ruth Wanyera, 2019
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) has long attributed its widespread impact and reach to strong collaborations with national agricultural research systems (NARS) around the world. Today, CIMMYT â and especially the Global Wheat Program and the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat â wish to honor one long-term collaborator whose work and dedication to wheat research has had abiding positive effects beyond her home region of sub-Saharan Africa.
Ruth Wanyera, national wheat research program coordinator at the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), has spent her more than 30-year career dedicated to plant protection research, fueled by her motivation to âfeed the people.â She was one of the first scientists to recognize stem rust in east Africa and has been one of CIMMYTâs strongest allies in fighting the devastating wheat disease, stem rust Ug99.
National Wheat Coordinator Ruth Wanyera (third from right) gives a lesson to pathology interns in the field of a fungicide efficiency trial at KALRO Njoro Research Station, Nakuru, Kenya. (Photo:CIMMYT)
A long-term relationship with CIMMYT
Sridhar Bhavani, senior scientist and head of Rust Pathology and Molecular Genetics at CIMMYT has worked closely with Wanyera and her team since the mid-2000s.
âRuth is a passionate researcher who has tirelessly dedicated her entire career to cereal pathology, and as a team, we coordinated the stem rust phenotyping platform for over a decade and had great successes on multiple international projects,â he said.
CIMMYTâs relationship with Wanyeraâs team strengthened when Nobel Prize Laureate Norman Borlaug visited the Kenyan research facility to observe the emerging threat of stem rust. Upon witnessing how serious the outbreak had become, Borlaug organized an emergency summit in Nairobi in 2005, famously âsounding the alarmâ for swift and concerted action on stem rust, and ultimately leading to the establishment of the BGRI.
âRuth and her team of dedicated scientists from KALRO have not only made Kenya proud but have also made a remarkable contribution to the global wheat community in mitigating the threat of stem rust Ug99,â says Bhavani. âRuth has mentored masterâs and PhD students who are now leading researchers at KALRO. She has elevated the research capacity of KALRO to international repute.â
Two recent wheat breeding projects helped extend the CIMMYT-KALRO partnership beyond Kenya. The Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat (DRRW) and Delivering Genetic Gain in Wheat (DGGW) projects brought in a partnership with the Ethiopia Institute for Agricultural Research (EIAR) to establish and operate stem rust phenotyping platforms that addressed the global threat of Ug99 and other serious stem rust races, and helped provide solutions for the region. Thanks to KALROâs screening efforts at the CIMMYT-KALRO Stem Rust Screening Platform in Njoro, Kenya, CIMMYT-derived rust-resistant varieties now cover more than 90% of the wheat farming area in Kenya and Ethiopia.
Ruth Wanyera receives the Kenya Agricultural Research Award (KARA), during the High Panel Conference on Agricultural Research in Kenya. (Photo: CIMMYT)
The partnership continues to grow
Continued collaboration with Ruthâs team at KALRO will be essential in the new Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat for Improved Livelihoods (AGG) project. AGG â which aims to accelerate the development and delivery of more productive, climate-resilient, gender-responsive, market-demanded, and nutritious wheat varieties in in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia â has a particular focus on enhanced collaboration with national partners such as KALRO.
Its success is also closely tied to the Njoro Stem Rust Screening Platform â which, since its establishment in 2008, has conducted crucial screening for over 600,000 wheat lines, varieties, varietal candidates, germplasm bank accessions and mapping populations. Wanyeraâs leadership in the Platform, alongside that of CIMMYT wheat scientist Mandeep Randhawa, plays a major role in screening, monitoring, and clearing seed in time for sowing.
As Hans Braun, former director of the CIMMYT Global Wheat Program said, âWithout our national agriculture research system partnerships, CIMMYT would become obsolete.â
Indeed, the unparalleled wealth of knowledge, skills, and research facilities of the CGIAR as a whole would not be so uniquely impactful if it werenât for the 3000+ partnerships with national governments, academic institutions, enthusiastic farmers, private companies and NGOs that help carry out this work.
CIMMYTâs historic and continued impact depends on close international partnerships with scientists and leaders like Ruth Wanyera, and we congratulate her on her numerous awards, thank her for her collaboration, and wish her a pleasant retirement.
