The Agricultural Innovation Program (AIP) for Pakistan is working to sustainably increase agricultural productivity and incomes in the agricultural sector through the promotion and dissemination of modern technologies/practices in the livestock, horticulture (fruits and vegetables) and cereals (wheat, maize and rice) sector. The CIMMYT-led project aims to foster emergence of a dynamic, responsive, and competitive system of science and innovation in Pakistan.
This unique project places particular emphasis on building partnerships between public research and those it serves, including farmers and the private sector. AIP operates through three activity windows: commissioned projects, a competitive grants system and human resource development. Within these activity windows AIP addresses complex agricultural systems, but is divided into four âscience windowsââ including cereals and cereal systems, livestock, vegetables and perennial horticulture. The key indicator of AIPâs success is the number of small farmers who adopt or benefit from productivity or value-enhancing technologies.
OBJECTIVES
The long term goals of the project are food security, environmental protection, gender sensitization and poverty reduction through the adoption of sustainable technologies, resource management practices, advance agricultural models and improved systems.
Arun Kumar Joshi is engaged in developing climate-resilient, high-yielding, nutritive wheat varieties for South Asia. In addition, he is engaged in various collaborations on climate-resilient agriculture and seed system. He has facilitated the development and release of more than five dozen wheat varieties in South Asia through a significant contribution to climate resilience, disease resistance, conservation agriculture, and Zinc rich biofortification. His research findings are published in 188 refereed journal articles, 212 extension articles and manuals, 10 books or book chapters, and 136 symposia proceedings, and has a patent.
Joshi, a former Professor of Banaras Hindu University, is a fellow of the three most prestigious science academies in India â the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), the National Academy of Science in India (NASI), and the National Academy of Agriculture Sciences (NAAS). In 2014, he was awarded the Jeanie Borlaug Laube WIT Mentor Award from the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative at Cornell University.
Participants of the project closure workshop stand for a group photo. (Photo: Semu Yemane/EIAR)
The Ethiopian wheat sector has seen progress since the early 2000s, more than doubling the average farm yields from 1.13 tons per hectare in 1998/99 to 2.74 tons per hectare in 2017/18. Progressive farmers who plant improved wheat varieties and follow recommended agronomic practices could harvest four to six tons per hectare in high-potential wheat growing areas. However, the production is not keeping up with the growing wheat demand: imports reached over 1.5 million tons last year. The Ethiopian government has announced recently that the country should become wheat self-sufficient over the next four years.
One of the biggest wheat production challenges in Ethiopia has been the stem rust and yellow rust diseases caused by Pucccinia spp, which severely affected popular wheat varieties like Kubsa, Galema and Digalu that wiped out from production.
In response to these losses, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) started an emergency project to multiply and disseminate rust-resistant wheat varieties in the affected regions in 2014, with support from USAID.
The following year, CIMMYT launched the Seed Multiplication and Delivery of High Yielding Rust Resistant Bread and Durum Wheat Varieties to Ethiopian Farmers project. It benefitted people in 54 woredas (districts) of 4 regions: Amhara, Oromia, SNNP and Tigray. CIMMYT collaborated with the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), regional agricultural research institutes and the regional bureaus of agriculture.
This wheat seed scaling project wrapped up with a closure workshop on March 7, 2019. Organized by CIMMYT and EIAR, it gathered representatives from USAID, policymakers, researchers and other governmental and non-governmental institutions.
State minister of agriculture Aynalem Nigussie officially opened the workshop. (Photo: Semu Yemane/EIAR)
State minister of agriculture Aynalem Nigussie noted that the project boosted farmersâ productivity thanks to better seeds, improved farming practices and increased knowledge to deal with wheat rust diseases. She recognized that the project aligned with national priorities, as the government is devising a new seed policy to address the current challenges of the Ethiopian wheat seed sector.
CIMMYTâs representative in Ethiopia, Bekele Abeyo, highlighted some of the project outcomes. Some of the achievements in the past four years included the release and demonstration of 23 wheat varieties â 18 bread and 5 durum types â, increased access to these improved seeds for 131,132 households and production of 39,750 tons of wheat grain. Extension agents from 54 woredas participated in training in wheat rust management, recommended agronomic packages for the new wheat varieties, and field data collection and management.
Lessons learned
Abeyo explained that the project could reach a high number of farmers thanks to effective teamwork between the various stakeholders, seed support on revolving bases and a decentralized seed production to reach even remote places. Clustering farmersâ plots favored quality seed production.
Participants flagged weak market linkages, particularly for farmers producing durum wheat, , as a bottleneck to address. Workshop participants recommended the establishment of a wheat task force involving the private sector and with continuous support from funders like USAID.
The director general of EIAR, Mandefro Nigusse, said that the issues raised are inputs for further actions, and some will have to be directed to researchers and breeders to come up with additional solutions for the challenges the wheat sector is facing.
Eyasu Abrha, Advisor to the Minister of Agriculture, officially closed the workshop. He noted that the government of Ethiopia is putting effort into ensuring nutritional and food security, and that projects such as this one are important to address critical challenges in the sector. Abrha acknowledged the support of CIMMYT, EIAR and USAID, and called for a continued collaboration with the government of Ethiopia to meet nutritional and food security goals.
CIMMYT’s representative in Ethiopia, Bekele Abeyo, presents the achievements of the project. (Photo: Semu Yemane/EIAR)
Carolina Rivera (left) shakes the hand of Maricelis Acevedo, Associate Director for Science for Cornell Universityâs Delivering Genetic Gain in Wheat Project and WIT mentor, after the announcement of the WIT award winners.
As a native of Obregon, Mexico, Carolina Rivera has a unique connection to the heart of Norman Borlaugâs wheat fields. She is now carrying on Borlaugâs legacy and working with wheat as a wheat physiologist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and data coordinator with the International Wheat Yield Partnership (IWYP).
Given her talents and passion for wheat research, it is no surprise that Rivera is one of the six recipients of the 2019 Jeanie Borlaug Laube Women in Triticum (WIT) Early Career Award. As a young scientist at CIMMYT, she has already worked to identify new traits associated with the optimization of plant morphology aiming to boost grain number and yield.
The Jeanie Borlaug Laube WIT Award provides professional development opportunities for women working in wheat. The review panel responsible for the selection of the candidates at the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI), was impressed by her commitment towards wheat research on an international level and her potential to mentor future women scientists.
Established in 2010, the award is named after Jeanie Borlaug Laube, wheat science advocate and mentor, and daughter of Nobel Laureate Dr. Norman E. Borlaug. As a winner, Rivera is invited to attend a training course at CIMMYT in Obregon, Mexico, in spring 2020 as well as the BGRI 2020 Technical Workshop, to be held in the UK in June 2020. Since the awardâs founding, there are now 50 WIT award winners.
The 2019 winners were announced on March 20 during CIMMYTâs Global Wheat Program Visitorsâ Week in Obregon.
In the following interview, Rivera shares her thoughts about the relevance of the award and her career as a woman in wheat science.
Q: What does receiving the Jeanie Borlaug Laube WIT Award mean to you?
I feel very honored that I was considered for the WIT award, especially after having read the inspiring biographies of former WIT awardees. Receiving this award has encouraged me even more to continue doing what I love while standing strong as a woman in science.
It will is a great honor to receive the award named for Jeanie Borlaug, who is a very active advocate for wheat research. I am also very excited to attend the BGRI Technical Workshop next year, where lead breeders and scientists will update the global wheat community on wheat rust research. I expect to see a good amount of women at the meeting!
Q: When did you first become interested in agriculture?
My first real encounter with agriculture was in 2009 when I joined CIMMYT Obregon as an undergraduate student intern. I am originally from Obregon, so I remember knowing about the presence of CIMMYT, Campo Experimental Norman E. Borlaug (CENEB) and Instituto Nacional de InvestigaciĂłn Forestales AgrĂcolas y Pecuario (Inifap) in my city but not really understanding the real importance and impact of the research coming from those institutions. After a few months working at CIMMYT, I became very engrossed in my work and visualized myself as a wheat scientist.
Q: Why is it important to you that there is a strong community of women in agriculture?
We know women play a very important role in agriculture in rural communities, but in most cases they do not get the same rights and recognition as men. Therefore, policies â such as land rights â need to be changed and both women and men need to be educated in gender equity. I think the latter factor is more likely to strengthen communities of women, both new and existing, working in agriculture.
In addition, women should participate more in science to show that agricultural research is an area where various ideas and perspectives are necessary. To achieve this in the long run, policies need to look at current social and cultural practices holding back the advancement of women in their careers.
Q: What are you currently working on with CIMMYT and IWYP?
I am a post-doctoral fellow in CIMMYTâs Global Wheat Program where I assist in collaborative projects to improve wheat yield potential funded by IWYP. I am also leading the implementation of IWYPâs international research database, helping to develop CIMMYTâs wheat databases in collaboration with the centerâs Genetic Resources Program. Apart from research and data management, I am passionate about offering trainings to students and visitors on field phenotyping approaches.
Q: Where do you see yourself in the agriculture world in 10 years?
In 10 years, I see myself as an independent scientist, generating ideas that contribute to delivering wheat varieties with higher yield potential and better tolerance to heat and drought stresses. I also see myself establishing strategies to streamline capacity building for graduate students in Mexico. At that point, I would also like to be contributing to policy changes in education and funding for science in Mexico.
On March 4, 2019, staff from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) welcomed Gerd MĂŒller, Germanyâs Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), for a short visit to CIMMYTâs global headquarters in Mexico. Before exploring the campus and sitting down to hear about CIMMYTâs latest innovations in maize and wheat research, Minister MĂŒller challenged the scientists gathered there by asking: âIs a world with no hunger actually possible?â
âIt is possible, but it will require a lot of research and development activities to get there,â replied CIMMYTâs director general, Martin Kropff.
With $3.5 billion generated in benefits annually, CIMMYT is well positioned for Minister MĂŒllerâs challenge. CIMMYT works throughout the developing world to improve livelihoods and foster more productive, sustainable maize and wheat farming. Its portfolio squarely targets critical challenges, including food insecurity and malnutrition, climate change and environmental degradation. In addition, over 50 percent of maize and wheat grown in the developing world is based on CIMMYT varieties.
Germany has generously supported CIMMYT’s work for decades in a quest to answer this very question, which aligns with the German governmentâs agenda to improving food and nutrition security, the environment and livelihoods.
âCIMMYT is working to find ways to allow developing countries to grow maize and wheat on less land so that a larger percentage of it can be freed for nutritious and higher value cash crops. This requires better seeds that are adapted to biotic and abiotic stressors, smarter agronomy and machinery, which CIMMYT develops with partners,â Kropff explained.
CIMMYT works between smallholders and small companies to create an incentive on one side to grow varieties and on the other side, to increase demand for quality grain that will ultimately become the tortillas and bread on customersâ dinner tables. These sustainable sourcing and breeding efforts depend on the breathtaking diversity of maize and wheat housed at CIMMYTâs genebank, the Wellhausen-Anderson Plant Genetic Resources Center, which is supported by German funding along with solar panels that generate clean energy for the genebank.
Through funding for the CGIAR Research Program on WHEAT and the CIM Integrated Experts Program, Germanyâs GIZ and BMZ have also supported CIMMYT research into gender and innovation processes in Africa, Central and South Asia, enhancing gender awareness in both projects and rural communities and mainstreaming gender-sensitive approaches in agricultural research. As a result, CIMMYT researchers and partners have increased gender equality in wheat-based cropping systems in Ethiopia, reduced the burden of womenâs wheat cleaning work in Afghanistan, and hosted a series of training courses promoting the integration of gender awareness and analysis in research for development.
In addition, the CIM Integrated Experts program has allowed CIMMYT to increase its efforts to scale up agricultural innovations and link research to specific development needs. With support from GIZ and in collaboration with the PPPLab, in 2018 CIMMYT researchers developed a trial version of the Scaling Scan, a tool which helps researchers to design and manage scaling at all project phases: at the beginning, during and after implementation.
CIMMYT is committed to improving livelihoods and helping farmers stay competitive through increasing labor productivity and reducing costs. CIMMYTâs mechanization team works to identify, develop, test and improve technologies that reduce drudgery and enable smallholders in Mexico, sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia to adopt sustainable intensification practices, which require greater farm power and precision. In Ethiopia, CIMMYT has an ongoing collaboration with the GIZ/BMZ green innovation center â established as part of the ONE WORLD â No Hunger initiative â and is working with GIZ in Namibia to provide knowledge, expertise and capacity building on conservation agriculture. This includes the organization of training courses to mechanics and service providers on everything from the use to the repair of machinery and small-scale mechanization services.
âWeâre on a mission to improve livelihoods through transforming smallholder agriculture, much of which depends on empowering women, scaling, market development and pushing for policies that would create the right incentives. Partnerships with local and international stakeholders such as Germany are at the core of CIMMYTâs operations and allow for us to have global impact,â said Kropff.
Recent research in Southern Ethiopia found that agricultural areas with the highest tree cover also experienced the most productivity in crop, feed and fuel. (Photo: Mokhamad Edliadi/CIFOR)
Deep within southern Ethiopiaâs agroforestry landscapes, where farmers grow grain and keep cattle, sheep, goats and donkeys, researchers counted more than 4,100 birds as part of an assessment on agricultural productivity and biodiversity.
The researchers also counted some 4,473 individual trees from 52 tree species in the same study, which they believe is the first to link key indicators of biodiversity to more than one indicator of agricultural productivity, considering three products people in rural communities value most: fodder, fuel and food.
This has led to two important new conclusions: that encouraging biodiversity on and around agricultural land likely increases its productivity, and that measurements of productivity must be broadened to include what matters for local livelihoods.
Too often, agricultural productivity is measured through a very narrow lens, such as âmereâ crop yields alone. But, according to the study, that has âdisregarded local perspectives of what is actually important to people in terms of ecosystem services.
Take, for instance, trees: in addition to potentially growing food, they also benefit crop yield by controlling erosion; capture nutrients for the soil through their roots; help regulate the climate; and provide habitats for animals and insects, including natural enemies of crop pests. The study found that in this region of Ethiopia, agricultural productivity was higher in areas with heavy tree cover than in landscapes where trees had been removed for more crop space.
This study comes amid concerns that a rising demand for food and fuel to serve the worldâs growing population â projected to reach 9 billion by 2050 â will drive greater agricultural expansion and intensification.
The proliferation of both would likely cause real harm to landscapes and biodiversity, threatening the essential natural constituents of the worldâs ability to feed itself, warns Baudron. âThat has serious implications for the sustainability of our global food production system,â he says. âWe need biodiversity as an essential input.â
He also raises the issue of justice. Biodiversity loss hits hardest the millions of small farmers in developing countries â who make up the majority of farmers worldwide â because they depend almost exclusively on ecosystem services, and not external inputs, for production. And the resulting edible output is crucial for everyone; family farms produce more than 80 percent of the worldâs food in value terms, according to FAO statistics.
Baudron says the studyâs findings play into how small family farms should be managed through policy and in major restoration efforts, given that tree placement and configuration have enormous implications for biodiversity and ecosystem services it provides.
In other words, biodiversity shouldnât be a bonus of productive landscapes. The study suggests, rather, that productive landscapes should be designed to make the most of all of the services provided by biodiversity.
The work was part of âThe Agrarian Change Projectâ, with funding from the United Kingdomâs Department for International Development (DFID), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat.
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For plant scientists, increasing wheat yield potential is one of the most prevalent challenges of their work. One key strategy for increasing yield is to improve the plantâs ability to produce biomass through optimizing the conversion of solar radiation into plant structures and grain, called radiation use efficiency (RUE). Currently, the process is 30-50% less efficient in wheat than in maize.
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) wheat physiologist Gemma Molero, in collaboration with Ryan Joynson and Anthony Hall of the Earlham Institute, has been studying the association of RUE related traits with molecular markers to identify specific genes associated with this trait.
Over the course of two years, Molero and fellow researchers evaluated a panel of 150 elite spring wheat genotypes for 31 traits, looking for marker traits associated with yield and other âsinkâ-related traits, such as, grain number, grain weight and harvest index, along with ââsourceââ-related traits, such as RUE and biomass at various growth stages. Â Many of the elite wheat lines that were tested encompass âexoticâ material in their pedigree such as ancient wheat landraces and wheat wild relatives.
The scientists found that increases in both net rate of photosynthesis and RUE have the potential to make a large impact on wheat biomass, demonstrating that the use of exotic material is a valuable resource to help increase yield potential. This is the first time that a panel of elite wheat lines has been assembled using different sources of yield potential traits, and an important output from a large global endeavor to increase wheat yield, the International Wheat Yield Partnership (IWYP).
âWe identified common genetic bases for yield, biomass and RUE for the first time. This has important implications for wheat researchers, breeders, geneticists, plant scientists and biologists,â says Molero.
The identification of molecular markers associated with the studied traits is a valuable tool for wheat improvement. Broadly speaking, the study opens the door for a series of important biological questions about the role of RUE in yield potential and in the ability to increase grain biomass.
In order to accommodate worldwide population increases and shifts in diet, wheat yield needs to double by 2050 â and genetic gains in wheat, specifically, must increase at a rate of 2.4 percent annually. Increasing biomass through the optimization of RUE along the wheat crop cycle can be an important piece in the puzzle to help meet this demand.
Check out other recent publications by CIMMYT researchers below:
A loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay for the rapid detection of toxigenic Fusarium temperatum in maize stalks and kernels. 2019. Liuying Shan, Hafiz Abdul Haseeb, Jun Zhang, Dandan Zhang, Jeffers, D.P., Xiaofeng Dai, Wei Guo. In: International Journal of Food Microbiology v. 291, p. 72-78.
Adoption of drought tolerant maize varieties under rainfall stress in Malawi. 2019. Katengeza, S.P., Holden, S.T., Lunduka, R. In: Journal of Agricultural Economics v. 70, no. 1, p. 198-214.
Alternative use of wheat land to implement a potential wheat holiday as wheat blast control : in search of feasible crops in Bangladesh. 2019. Mottaleb, K.A., Singh, P.K., Xinyao He, Akbar Hossain, Kruseman, G., Erenstein, O. In: Land Use Policy v. 82, p. 1-12.
Business models of SMEs as a mechanism for scaling climate smart technologies : the case of Punjab, India. 2019. Groot, A.E., Bolt, J.S., Jat, H.S., Jat, M.L., Kumar, M., Agarwal, T., Blok, V. In: Journal of Cleaner Production v. 210, p. 1109-1119.
Climate change impact and adaptation for wheat protein. 2019. Asseng, S., Martre, P., Maiorano, A., Rotter, R., OâLeary, G.J., Fitzgerald, G., Girousse, C., Motzo, R., Giunta, F., M. Ali Babar, Reynolds, M.P., Kheir, A.M.S., Thorburn, P.J., Waha, K., Ruane, A.C., Aggarwal, P.K., Mukhtar Ahmed, Balkovic, J., Basso, B., Biernath, C., Bindi, M., Cammarano, D., Challinor, A.J., De Sanctis, G., Dumont, B., Eyshi Rezaei, E., Fereres, E., Ferrise, R., Garcia-Vila, M., Gayler, S., Yujing Gao, Horan, H., Hoogenboom, G., Izaurralde, R.C., Jabloun, M., Jones, C.D., Kassie, B.T., Kersebaum, K.C., Klein, C., Koehler, A.K., Bing Liu, Minoli, S., Montesino San Martin, M., Muller, C., Soora Naresh Kumar, Nendel, C., Olesen, J.E., Palosuo, T., Porter, J.R., Priesack, E., Ripoche, D., Semenov, M.A., Stockle, C., Stratonovitch, P., Streck, T., Supit, I., Fulu Tao, Van der Velde, M., Wallach, D., Wang, E., Webber, H., Wolf, J., Liujun Xiao, Zhao Zhang, Zhigan Zhao, Yan Zhu, Ewert, F. In: Global Change Biology v. 25, no. 1, p. 155-173.
Corrigendum to âgreenhouse gas emissions from agricultural food production to supply Indian diets : implications for climate change mitigationâ [agric. ecosyst. environ. 237 (2017) 234â241]. 2019. Vetter, S.H., Sapkota, T.B., Hillier, J., Stirling, C., Macdiarmid, J.I., Aleksandrowicz, L., Green, R., Joy, E.J.M., Dangour, A.D., Smith, P. In: Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment v. 272, p. 83-85.
Cost-effective opportunities for climate change mitigation in Indian agriculture. 2019. Sapkota, T.B., Vetter, S.H., Jat, M.L., Smita P.S. Sirohi, Shirsath, P.B., Singh, R., Jat, H.S., Smith, P., Hillier, J., Stirling, C. In: Science of the Total Environment v. 655, p. 1342-1354.
Crop season planning tool : adjusting sowing decisions to reduce the risk of extreme weather events. 2019. Perondi, D., Fraisse, C.W., Staub, C.G., Cerbaro, V.A., Barreto, D.D., Pequeño, D.N.L., Mulvaney, M.J., Troy, P., Pavan, W.O. In: Computers and Electronics in Agriculture v. 156, p. 62-70.
Microsatellite analysis and urediniospore dispersal simulations support the movement of Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici from Southern Africa to Australia. 2019. Visser, B., Meyer, M., Park, R.F., Gilligan, C.A., Burgin, L., Hort, M.C., Hodson, D.P., Pretorius, Z.A. In: Phytopathology v. 109, no. 1, p. 133-144.
Opportunities for wheat cultivars with superior straw quality traits targeting the semi-arid tropics. 2019. Joshi, A.K., Barma, N.C.D., Abdul Hakim, M., Kalappanavar, I.K., Vaishali Rudra Naik, Suma S. Biradar., Prasad, S.V.S., Singh, R.P., Blummel, M. Field Crops Research v. 231, p. 51-56.
Spider community shift in response to farming practices in a sub-humid agroecosystem of southern Africa. 2019. Mashavakure, N., Mashingaidze, A.B., Musundire, R., Nhamo, N., Gandiwa, E., Thierfelder, C., Muposhi, V.K. In: Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment v. 272, p. 237-245.
Despite formal decentralization, agricultural services in Ethiopia are generally âtop-down,â claim the authors of a recently published paper on gender and agricultural innovation. âExtension services,â they explain, âare supply-driven, with off-the-shelf technologies transferred to farmers without expectation of further adaptation.â
Drawing on GENNOVATE case studies from two wheat-growing communities in Ethiopiaâs Oromia region, the authors examine how a small sample of women and men smallholders attempt to innovate with improved wheat seed, row planting, and the broad bed maker, introduced through the Ethiopian agricultural extension system. They also introduce the concept of tempered radicals, an analytic lens used to understand how individuals try to initiate change processes, and assess whether this can have validity in rural settings.
Dinke Abebe shows a handful of wheat at a traditional seed storage house in Boru Lencha village, Hetosa district, Arsi highlands, Ethiopia. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)
As the authors demonstrate through their literature review on cultural norms in the region, there are powerful institutional gender constraints to change processes, which can be punitive for women.
Ethiopian women smallholders are particularly disadvantaged because they have limited access to productive assets such as irrigation water, credit and extension services. Therefore, they find it harder to implement innovations. The study asserts that strategies to support innovators, and women innovators in particular, must be context-specific as well as gender-sensitive.
Read the full article âGender and agricultural innovation in Oromia region, Ethiopia: from innovator to tempered radicalâ in Gender, Technology and Development.
Development of research methodology and data collection was supported by the CGIAR Gender and Agricultural Research Network, the World Bank, the Government of Mexico, the Government of Germany, and the CGIAR Research Programs on Maize and Wheat. Data analysis was supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Check out other recent publications by CIMMYT researchers below:
In an attempt to curb the spread of this disease, policymakers in the region are considering a âwheat holidayâ policy: banning wheat cultivation for a few years in targeted areas. Since wheat blastâs Magnaporthe oryzae pathotype triticum (MoT) fungus can survive on seeds for up to 22 months, the idea is to replace wheat with other crops, temporarily, to cause the spores to die. In India, which shares a border of more than 4,000 km with Bangladesh, the West Bengal state government has already instituted a two-year ban on wheat cultivation in two districts, as well as all border areas. In Bangladesh, the government is implementing the policy indirectly by discouraging wheat cultivation in the severely blast affected districts.
CIMMYT researchers recently published in two ex-ante studies to identify economically feasible alternative crops in Bangladesh and the bordering Indian state of West Bengal.
Alternative crops
The first step to ensuring that a ban does not threaten the food security and livelihoods of smallholder farmers, the authors assert, is to supply farmers with economically feasible alternative crops.
In Bangladesh, the authors examined the economic feasibility of seven crops as an alternative to wheat, first in the entire country, then in 42 districts vulnerable to blast, and finally in ten districts affected by wheat blast. Considering the cost of production and revenue per hectare, the study ruled out boro rice, chickpeas and potatoes as feasible alternatives to wheat due to their negative net return. In contrast, they found that cultivation of maize, lentils, onions, and garlic could be profitable.
The study in India looked at ten crops grown under similar conditions as wheat in the state of West Bengal, examining the economic viability of each. The authors conclude that growing maize, lentils, legumes such as chickpeas and urad bean, rapeseed, mustard and potatoes in place of wheat appears to be profitable, although they warn that more rigorous research and data are needed to confirm and support this transition.
Selecting alternative crops is no easy task. Crops offered to farmers to replace wheat must be appropriate for the agroecological zone and should not require additional investments for irrigation, inputs or storage facilities. Also, the extra production of labor-intensive and export-oriented crops, such as maize in India and potatoes in Bangladesh, may add costs or require new markets for export.
There is also the added worry that the MoT fungus could survive on one of these alternative crops, thus completely negating any benefit of the âwheat holiday.â The authors point out that the fungus has been reported to survive on maize.
A short-term solution?
The grain in this blast-blighted wheat head has been turned to chaff. (Photo: CKnight/DGGW/ Cornell University)
In both studies, the authors discourage a âwheat holidayâ policy as a holistic solution. However, they leave room for governments to pursue it on an interim and short-term basis.
In the case of Bangladesh, CIMMYT agricultural economist and lead author Khondoker Mottaleb asserts that a âwheat holidayâ would increase the countryâs reliance on imports, especially in the face of rapidly increasing wheat demand and urbanization. A policy that results in complete dependence on wheat imports, he and his co-authors point out, may not be politically attractive or feasible. Also, the policy would be logistically challenging to implement. Finally, since the disease can potentially survive on other host plants, such as weeds and maize, it may not even work in the long run.
In the interim, the government of Bangladesh may still need to rely on the âwheat holidayâ policy in the severely blast-affected districts. In these areas, they should encourage farmers to cultivate lentils, onions and garlic. In addition, in the short term, the government should make generic fungicides widely available at affordable prices and provide an early warning system as well as adequate information to help farmers effectively combat the disease and minimize its consequences.
In the case of West Bengal, India, similar implications apply, although the authors conclude that the âwheat holidayâ policy could only work if Bangladesh has the same policy in its blast-affected border districts, which would involve potentially difficult and costly inter-country collaboration, coordination and logistics.
Actions for long-term success
The CIMMYT researchers urge the governments of India and Bangladesh, their counterparts in the region and international stakeholders to pursue long-term solutions, including developing a convenient diagnostic tool for wheat blast surveillance and a platform for open data and science to combat the fungus.
A promising development is the blast-resistant (and zinc-enriched) wheat variety BARI Gom 33 which the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) released in 2017 with support from CIMMYT. However, it will take at least three to five years before it will be available to farmers throughout Bangladesh. The authors urged international donor agencies to speed up the multiplication process of this variety.
CIMMYT scientists in both studies close with an urgent plea for international financial and technical support for collaborative research on disease epidemiology and forecasting, and the development and dissemination of new wheat blast-tolerant and resistant varieties and complementary management practices â crucial steps to ensuring food security for more than a billion people in South Asia.
Wheat blast impacts
First officially reported in Brazil in 1985, where it eventually spread to 3 million hectares in South America and became the primary reason for limited wheat production in the region, wheat blast moved to Bangladesh in 2016. There it affected nearly 15,000âhectares of land in eight districts, reducing yield by as much as 51 percent in the affected fields.
Blast is devilish: directly striking the wheat ear, it can shrivel and deform the grain in less than a week from the first symptoms, leaving farmers no time to act. There are no widely available resistant varieties, and fungicides are expensive and provide only a partial defense. The disease, caused by the fungus Magnaporthe oryzae pathotype triticum (MoT), can spread through infected seeds as well as by spores that can travel long distances in the air.
South Asia has a long tradition of wheat consumption, especially in northwest India and Pakistan, and demand has been increasing rapidly across South Asia. It is the second major staple in Bangladesh and India and the principal staple food in Pakistan. Research indicates 17 percent of wheat area in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan — representing nearly 7 million hectares â is vulnerable to the disease, threatening the food security of more than a billion people.
Wheat blast is a fast-acting and devastating fungal disease that threatens food safety and security in the Americas and South Asia.
First officially identified in Brazil in 1984, the disease is widespread in South American wheat fields, affecting as much as 3 million hectares in the early 1990s.
In 2016, it crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and Bangladesh suffered a severe outbreak. Bangladesh released a blast-resistant wheat variety â developed with breeding lines from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) â in 2017, but the country and region remain extremely vulnerable.
The continued spread of blast in South Asia â where more than 100 million tons of wheat are consumed each year â could be devastating.
Researchers with the CIMMYT-led and USAID-supported Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) and Climate Services for Resilient Development (CSRD) projects partner with national researchers and meteorological agencies on ways to work towards solutions to mitigate the threat of wheat blast and increase the resilience of smallholder farmers in the region. These include agronomic methods and early warning systems so farmers can prepare for and reduce the impact of wheat blast.
This series of infographics shows how wheat blast spreads, its potential effect on wheat production in South Asia and ways farmers can manage it.
This work is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. CSISA partners include CIMMYT, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).
The Government of Ethiopia recently announced an ambitious goal to reach wheat self-sufficiency by 2022, eliminating expensive wheat imports and increasing food security.
However, a new report based on a four-year research project on gender and productivity in Ethiopiaâs wheat sector indicates that a lack of technical gender research capacity, a shortage of gender researchers and low implementation of gender-focused policies is hampering these efforts. Read more here.
International scientists are working with regional and national partners in sub-Saharan Africa to catalyze local wheat farming and help meet the rapidly rising regional demand for this crop.
The specialists are focusing on smallholder farmers in Rwanda and Zambia, offering them technical and institutional support, better links to markets, and the sharing of successful practices across regions and borders, as part of the project âEnhancing smallholder wheat productivity through sustainable intensification of wheat-based farming systems in Rwanda and Zambia.â
âWork started in 2016 and has included varietal selection, seed multiplication, and sharing of high-yielding, locally adapted, disease-resistant wheat varieties,â said Moti Jaleta, a socioeconomist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) who leads the project. âOur knowledge and successes in smallholder wheat production and marketing will also be applicable in Madagascar, Mozambique, and Tanzania.â
Harvesting wheat at Gataraga, Northern Province, Rwanda.
Maize is by far the number-one food crop in sub-Saharan Africa but wheat consumption is increasing fast, driven in part by rapid urbanization and life-style changes. The region annually imports more than 15 million tons of wheat grain, worth some US$ 3.6 billion at current prices. Only Ethiopia, Kenya, and South Africa grow significant amounts of wheat and they are still net importers of the grain.
âGrowing more wheat where it makes sense to do so can help safeguard food security for people who prefer wheat and reduce dependence on risky wheat grain markets,â Jaleta explained. âWeâre working in areas where thereâs biophysical potential for the crop in rain-fed farming, to increase domestic wheat production and productivity through use of improved varieties and cropping practices.â
In addition to the above, participants are supporting the regionâs wheat production in diverse ways:
Recommendations to fine-tune smallholder wheat value chains and better serve diverse farmers.
Testing of yield-enhancing farming practices, such as bed-and-furrow systems that facilitate efficient sowing and better weed control.
Testing and promotion of small-scale mechanization, such as power tillers, to save labor and improve sowing and crop establishment.
Exploring use of hand-held light sensors to precisely calibrate nitrogen fertilizer dosages throughout the cropping season.
Innocent Habarurema, wheat breeder in the Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB), cited recent successes in the release of improved, disease resistant wheat varieties, as well as engaging smallholder farmers in seed multiplication and marketing to improve their access to quality seed of those varieties.
âThe main challenge in wheat production is the short window of time between wheat seasons, which doesnât allow complete drying of harvested plants for proper threshing,â Habarurema explained. âSuitable machinery to dry and thresh the wheat would remove the drudgery of hand threshing and improve the quality of the grain, so that it fetches better prices in markets.â
Millers, like this one in Rwanda, play a key role in wheat value chains.
Critical wheat diseases in Zambia include spot blotch, a leaf disease caused by the fungus Cochliobolus sativus, and head blight caused by Fusarium spp., which can leave carcinogenic toxins in the grain, according to Batiseba Tembo, wheat breeder at the Zambian Agricultural Research Institute (ZARI).
âDeveloping and disseminating varieties resistant to these diseases is a priority in the wheat breeding program at Mt. Makulu Agricultural Research Center,â said Tembo. âWeâre also promoting appropriate mechanization for smallholder farmers, to improve wheat production and reduce the enormous drudgery of preparing the soil with hand hoes.â
Participants in the project, which runs to 2020, met at Musanze, in Rwandaâs Northern Province, during February 5-7 to review progress and plan remaining activities, which include more widespread sharing of seed, improved practices, and other useful outcomes.
âThere was interest in trying smallholder winter wheat production under irrigation in Zambia to reduce the disease effects normally experienced in rainfed cropping,â said Jaleta, adding that the costs and benefits of irrigation, which is rarely used in the region, need to be assessed.
Project participants may also include in selection trials wheat varieties that have been bred to contain enhanced grain levels of zinc, a key micronutrient missing in the diets of many rural Africa households.
âThe project will also push for the fast-track release and seed multiplication of the best varieties, to get them into farmersâ hands as quickly as possible,â Jaleta said.
In addition to CIMMYT, RAB, and ZARI, implementing partners include the Center for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA). Generous funding for the work comes from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat.
CIMMYT scientist Gemma Molero speaks at the 9th International Wheat Congress in Sydney, Australia, in 2015. (Photo: Julie Mollins/CIMMYT)
âWe need to encourage and support girls and women to achieve their full potential as scientific researchers and innovators,â says UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres. And he is right. Bridging the gender gap in science is central to achieving sustainable development goals and fulfilling the promises of the 2030 Agenda.
Unfortunately, this is easier said than done. While in recent years the global community has increased its efforts to engage women and girls in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), they remain staggeringly underrepresented in these fields. According to UNESCO, less than 30 percent of the worldâs researchers are women, and only one in three female students in higher education selects STEM subjects.
âScience is male-dominated,â agrees CIMMYT wheat physiologist Gemma Molero. âItâs challenging being a woman and being young â conditions over which we have no control but which can somehow blind peers to our scientific knowledge and capacity.â
Samjhana Khanal surveys heat-tolerant maize varieties in Ludhiana, India, during a field day at the 13th Asian Maize Conference. (Photo: Manjit Singh/Punjab Agricultural University)
Investing in the science education for women and girls is a key part of changing this reality. Samjhana Khanal, a Nepali agricultural graduate, social entrepreneur and recipient of a 2018 MAIZE-Asia Youth Innovator Award testifies to this. She cites support from her family as a driving factor in allowing her to pursue her education, particularly her mother, who âdespite having no education, not being able to read or write a single word, dreamed of having a scientist daughter.â
Enhancing the visibility of established female scientists who can serve as role models for younger generations is equally important.
âOne of the most important factors that register subconsciously when undergraduates consider careers is what the person at the front of the room looks like,â claims the Association for Women in Science, âand women and underrepresented minorities visibly perceive their low numbers in fields like engineering and physical sciences.â
Visiting researcher Fazleen Abdul Fatah is studying the the growing importance of maize and wheat in emerging economies.
Fazleen Abdul Fatah is a senior lecturer in agricultural economics, trade and policy at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UITM), Malaysia, who recently spent three months as a visiting researcher based at CIMMYTâs global headquarters in Mexico. She acknowledges the importance of raising the visibility of minority female scientists who can serve as role models for young girls by demonstrating that careers in STEM are attainable.
âI had an amazing professor during my undergraduate degree who really inspired me to move forward in the field,â says Abdul Fatah. âShe was a wonderful example of how to do great maths, lead successful national and international projects, work in the STEM field, and be a mom.â
With support from CIMMYT, Molero, Khanal and Abdul Fatah are helping pave the way for the next generation of female scientists. Whether working on crop physiology, nutrient management or food consumption patterns, their careers serve as an inspiration for young and early career researchers around the world.
