Michael Ndegwa is a Market and Value Chain Specialist at CIMMYT with experience in evaluating agricultural policies and technologies using cutting edge evaluation methodologies. As a scientist in the SAS program, he is currently working on strategies for enhancing the performance of seed systems in East Africa, with a particular focus on seed marketing innovations for achieving faster varietal turnover. He has also conducted research on innovative models for financing and derisking agricultural production for smallholders in Africa, evaluation of postharvest technologies such as hermetic bags and metal silos, evaluation of drought maize varieties, among other research agenda.
Anurag Ajay is Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist of CIMMYT’s Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) project in India.
Ajay seeks to improve the way data is collected and used in the project. He is improving the system of data processing and sharing data publicly. He generates data-driven evidence-based insights that help take key project management decisions and are used for effective planning of project activities. He is the key resource person for programming digital surveys.
Ajay had been actively engaged in planning, coordinating, and facilitating collection of key performance indicator (KPI) data to measure project progress.
Geoffrey Muricho works for CIMMYT as a Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Specialist based in Nairobi. Before joining CIMMYT, he was a scientist (Monitoring, Learning and Evaluation Specialist) at ICRISAT where he coordinated monitoring, learning and evaluation activities of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded projects (TL III, HOPE II and AVISA) in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.
Besides monitoring, learning and evaluation, Geoffrey is an experienced research economists with expertise in agricultural technology adoption and impact assessments using quantitative and qualitative methods. Previously, he worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at International Center of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) where he focused his research on technology adoption, gender analysis and impact assessments. Before joining ICIPE, he worked as a Research Associate with CIMMYT and ICRISAT. Geoffrey obtained his PhD (Economics) and MSc. (Agricultural Economics) from the University of Nairobi. He also holds BSc (Agr. Econ).
Maxwell Mkondiwa is a CIMMYT Associate Scientist – Spatial Economist based in New Delhi, India. He joined CIMMYT in January 2022.
His research focuses on ex-ante and ex-post spatial economic assessments of the adoption potential and impact of agricultural technologies. The general fields in which he conducts his research include spatial economics, economics of agricultural research, production economics, marketing economics (industrial organization), development economics, applied spatial Bayesian econometrics, and economic applications of mathematical optimization.
He holds a PhD in Applied Economics from University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, an MSc in Applied Economics from University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, an MSc in Research Methods from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, and a BSc in Agricultural Economics from Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (Bunda College Campus).
Figuring out what kinds of crops and crop varieties farmers want â high yielding, disease resistant, drought tolerant, early maturing, consumer-preferred, nutritious etc. â is a crucial step in developing locally adapted, farmer-friendly and market preferred varieties as part of more sustainable seed grain sectors.
While scientists aim to develop the best crop varieties with multiple traits, there are always trade-offs to be made due to the limits of genetics or competing preferences. For example, a variety may be more tolerant to drought but perform less well in consumer taste preferences such as sweet grains, or it may be higher yielding but more vulnerable to pests and diseases. Some of these trade-offs, such as vulnerability to pests or adverse climate, are not acceptable and must be overcome by crop scientists. The bundle of traits a crop variety offers is often a major consideration for farmers and can be the difference between a bumper harvest and a harvest lost to pests and diseases or extreme weather conditions.
Economists from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) have been working with smallholder farmers across sub-Saharan Africa to document their preferences when it comes to maize. Results from Ethiopia were recently published in the journal PLOS ONE.
In a survey with almost 1,500 participants in more than 800 households, researchers found that both male and female farmers valued drought tolerance over other traits. For many farmers in areas where high-yielding, medium-maturing hybrids were available, early maturity was not considered a priority, and sometimes even disliked, as farmers felt it made their harvests more vulnerable to theft or increased their social obligations to share the early crop with relatives and neighbors if they were the only ones harvesting an early maize crop. Farmers therefore preferred varieties which matured more in sync with other farmers.
The team also found some gender differences, with female farmers often preferring taste over other traits, while male farmers were more likely to prioritize plant architecture traits like closed tip and shorter plants that do not easily break in the wind or bend over to the ground. These differences, if confirmed by ongoing and further research, suggest that gender differences in maize variety choices may occur due to differentiated roles of men and women in the maize value chains. Any differences observed should be traced to such roles where these are distinctly and socially differentiated. In aspects where men and womenâs roles are similar â for example, when women express preferences in their role as farmers as opposed to being custodians of household nutrition â they will prioritize similar aspects of maize varieties.
The results of the study show that overall, the most important traits for farmers in Ethiopia, in addition to those that improve yields, are varieties that are drought and disease tolerant, while in taste-sensitive markets with strong commercial opportunities in green maize selling, farmers may prioritize varieties that satisfy these specific consumer tastes. The findings of the study also highlight the impact of the local social environment on variety choices.
By taking farmersâ preferences on board, maize scientists can help develop more sustainable maize cropping systems which are adapted to the local environment and respond to global climatic and economic changes driven by farmersâ and consumersâ priorities.
Harvesting maize cobs at KALRO Katumani Research Station in Machakos, Kenya. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)
Drought and striga tolerance come out top for Kenyan farmers
In related research from western Kenya, published in June 2022 in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, results showed that farmers highly valued tolerance to drought, as well as tolerance to striga weed, low nitrogen soils and fall armyworm, in that order. CIMMYT researchers surveyed 1,400 smallholder farmers across three districts in western Kenya.
The scientists called for a more nuanced approach to seed markets, where seed prices might reflect the attributes of varieties. Doing so, they argue, would allow farmers to decide whether to pay price premiums for specific seed products thereby achieving greater market segmentation based on relative values of new traits.
âBoth studies show that farmers, scientists and development experts in the maize sector are grappling with a wide array of demands,â said Paswel Marenya, CIMMYT senior scientist and first author of both studies.
âFortunately, the maize breeding systems in CIMMYT, CGIAR and National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) have produced a wide range of locally adapted, stress tolerant and consumer preferred varieties.â
The results of both these studies provide a framework for the kinds of traits scientists should prioritize in maize improvement programs at least in similar regions as those studied here in central Ethiopia or western Kenya. However, as Marenya noted, there is still work to do in supporting farmers to make informed choices: “The challenge is to implement rigorous market targeting strategies that sort and organize this complex landscape for farmers, thereby reducing the information load, search costs and learning times about new varieties. This will accelerate the speed of adoption and genetic gains on farmersâ fields as envisaged in this project.â
SP Poonia is a Lead Researcher with CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program and Sustainable Agrifood Systems (SAS) program in India.
Through his work, he aims to feed nutritionally rich and safe food globally through best collective efforts for enhancing farming systems’ productivity with efficient resource use and the adoption of conservation agriculture-based preferred technologies at grassroot level.
Lalit Sharma is a seed technologist working for the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) and CIMMYT’s Sustainable Agrifood Systems (SAS) program. He works in the field of seed production, field quality inspection, and seed production research.
Ramiro Ortega Landa is a rural finance specialist with CIMMYT’s Sustainable Agrifood Systems (SAS) program in Mexico. He provides strategic advice and implementation support to agri-value chains development, articulated to climate goals, and delivers results to CIMMYTâs Global South partners for increasing sustainable, inclusive, and resilient investments to comply with the Paris Agreement.
Landa also develops, implements and manages climate-finance related projects and initiatives that entail innovative financial approaches which harness the power of disruptive technologies and business models, as well as boosting the potential of partnership structures to bring together CIMMYT and the private sector to improving the contribution of climate finance to low emissions and resilient agri-value chain development.
He identifies and supports new and existing partnerships related to agri-value chain development and climate-finance opportunities and initiatives, and provides strategic insights on the latest developments in climate finance, covering private sector and financial actors.
Sarah Kariuki is a markets and value chains specialist at CIMMYT in Kenya. Her research is mainly on cereal seed systems, specifically the demand for newer and improved varieties. Her other lines of work include research on how food markets can be made more efficient and assessment of consumer demand for higher-quality and safer foods. She holds a PhD in Development Economics from Wageningen University in the Netherlands.
Saiful Islam is a Research Coordinator and Cropping Systems Agronomist with the Innovation Science for Agroecosystems and Food Systems in Asia research theme in CIMMYTâs Sustainable Agrifood Systems (SAS) program in Bangladesh.
Currently, he has experiments run by local collaborators at over 50 farmersâ fields in the north-west region of Bangladesh. Capacity development with researchers, extension agents, and farmers is an important part of the teamâs work. He and their team share results through publications, ranging from scientific articles to extension leaflets, and scale recommendations for farmers through the innovation networks.
Islam works closely with farmers, farmer organizations, national and international non-governmental organizations, and agricultural research and development institutions to help rural people with food and nutritional security for a given community.
Kh. Abul Khayer is a machinery development officer with CIMMYT’s Sustainable Agrifood Systems (SAS) program in Bangladesh. He conducts demonstrations, adaptive trials and field days, and coordinates participatory trails on major cereals, vegetables, oilseeds and grain legumes. He collects and reports on data from farmer participatory trials, and assists on monitoring and evaluation of project activities.
For the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), Khayer conducts training needs assessments and imparts formal and informal training to partners, farmers and service providers in cooperation with CSISA team members. He analyzes and creates the project scope and milestones.
Khayer interacts with and organizes meetings with various stakeholders and partners to discuss, streamline and aid the implementation of field activities. He facilitates partnerships with a wide range of clientele from public and private sector organizations, including farmers’ groups.
Md. Shariful Islam is a Machinery Development officer in the Sustainable Agrifood Systems (SAS) program in Bangladesh.
He has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the IUBAT-International University of Business Agriculture and Technology and more than ten years of experience as a mechanical engineer across different industries in Bangladesh. Islam has worked as a senior assistance manager at PEB Steel Alliance Ltd. (PEBSAL) as a mechanical engineer at Quazi Enterprises Limited (QEL) and at Dhaka Tobacco Industries.
Md. Fazlul Karim is a machinery development officer with CIMMYT’s Sustainable Agrifood Systems (SAS) Program in Bangladesh. He completed an undergraduate and masters degree at Bangladesh Agricultural University in agricultural engineering and technology, with a major in farm power and machinery.
After that, Karim worked as an agricultural engineer under the Government of Bangladesh Enhancement of Crop Production through Improved On-Farm Water Management Technologies project, working in the Department of Agricultural Extension.
In addition, Karim has experience in conducting training for farmers at the Farmers Field School, organizing field days for machinery (including combine harvesters, reapers, rice transplanters and bed planters), supervising and monitoring project works, and providing technical support to beneficiaries.
Md. Rokonnuzzaman Rokon is a machinery development officer with CIMMYT’s Sustainable Agrifood Systems (SAS) program in Bangladesh. He graduated from Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University in 2014 with a degree in agricultural engineering, before completing a masters in irrigation and water management at Bangladesh Agricultural University.
After finishing his masters, Rokon joined Solargao Ltd as an assistant engineer to a solar irrigation project, before becoming a lecturer at the Government Shahid Akbar Ali Science and Technology College. He joined CIMMYT in 2022.
K.M. Zasim Uddin is an agricultural development officer with CIMMYT’s Sustainable Agrifood Systems (SAS) program in Bangladesh. He has a masters in agronomy from Rajshahi University
He is part of projects including the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), Fall Armyworm R4D and Management (FAW), Big data analytics for climate-smart agricultural practices in South Asia (Big DataÂČ CSA), and Climate Services for Resilient Development in South Asia (CSRD). His main responsibilities are research and development on agricultural mechanization for the CSISA Mechanization and Extension Activity (CSISA-MEA). He has participated in versatile training, workshops and conference programs across Asia.
Uddin has worked in different national and international non-government organizations and companies for more than 13 years, including in research and development at Syngenta Bangladesh Limited and on the Borga Chasi Unnayan Program at BRAC. He also worked as an agriculture officer under the Char Livelihood Program, funded by the United Kingdom Department for International Development.
