More than 200 staff came together to celebrate the winners of CGIAR’s first-ever Inclusive Workplace Awards on September 15 at a special online ceremony that rolled out the red carpet from Peru to Penang.
When the nomination period closed in early July, more than 150 staff had submitted nominations – indicating the value of CGIAR’s collective work towards creating even more inclusive workplaces.
“It’s our very own GDI Oscars,” said co-host Fiona Bourdin-Farrell, CGIAR’s Global Director of People and Culture, setting the celebratory tone in the first few minutes of the event.
“The Inclusive Workplace Awards allow us to recognize the stars among us who have demonstrated in words and deed their personal commitment to advancing gender, equity and inclusion in our workplaces.”
Inclusive Team Award
The final award of the day, the Inclusive Team Award, went to the CIMMYT Women in Crop Science Team for proactively adopting better ways of working to create an inclusive and respectful team culture.
Members of CIMMYT’s award-winning Women in Crop Science group.
Accepting the award on behalf of the team, Alison Bently, Director of CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program, said that the Women in Crop Science Team grew out of the significant underrepresentation of women in crop science.
“We established the group to identify and try to collectively address some of the causes of underrepresentation,” she said. “And importantly,” she added “to develop tangible actions broadly covering operational equality, recruitment and retention, and raising awareness and visibility.”
Winding up her acceptance remarks, Alison said: “I think it’s important to say that there’s much work that remains to be done. But the CIMMYT Women in Crop Science Team is committed to working with and supporting colleagues here at CIMMYT, across the CG[IAR], and in the international community to build a more inclusive and diverse community.”
María Florencia Rodríguez García (cereal pathologist)
Ernesto Solís Moya (wheat breeder)
Jorge Iván Alvarado Padilla (wheat breeder)
The award recognizes the team’s long-term contribution to Mexican wheat cultivation and their efforts to expand impacts worldwide. They have released many varieties with resistance to leaf rust, which has led to the stabilization of the disease in bread wheat.
Presented annually, the award is bestowed upon a team of researchers serving a national breeding program or other nationally based institution. Winners receive an inscribed bronze statue of Norman Borlaug.
Huerta has been hosted by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Mexico since the late 1990s.
Julio Huerta, wheat pathologist and recipient of the BGRI Gene Stewardship Award 2022, giving a talk to students introducing CIMMYT’s wheat breeding program. (Credit: CIMMYT)
BGRI Technical Workshop
Receiving the prize at the 2022 BGRI Technical Workshop on September 9, Huerta said, “The award means a recognition from the global rust scientific community for the hard work (flesh, mind, soul and spirit) over the years, carried with many colleagues around the world to keep rust disease under control.”
Alison Bentley, director of the Global Wheat Program, also participated in the event with a presentation on the connection between conflict and vulnerability in global food systems. She explored reasons why wheat has been dramatically impacted by the conflict in Ukraine and summarized the proposed response agenda by CIMMYT.
Ravi Singh delivers a lecture during the 61st All India Wheat and Barley Research Workers’ Meet celebrating the fruitful partnership of CIMMYT and ICAR. (Credit: SAWBAR)
Ravi Singh, head of wheat improvement and rust research at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), received the Sh. VS Mathur Memorial Award 2022 for outstanding contribution in the field of wheat crop improvement from the Society for Advancement of Wheat and Barley Research (SAWBAR).
As recipient of the award, Singh delivered a lecture during the 61st All India Wheat and Barley Research Workers’ Meet in Gwalior, India, on August 29. He highlighted and praised the partnership between India and CIMMYT as essential for accelerating gains in wheat yield despite the stresses of climate change thanks to improved resilience in new varieties and earlier sowing.
“The ICAR-CIMMYT wheat improvement partnership remains crucial for delivering new varieties with higher rates of genetic gain in farmers’ fields to enhance productivity, climate resilience, disease resistance and nutrition while meeting market needs,” he said.
Successes of the partnership include integrated breeding with a common agenda, commercialized varieties that are adapted to flexible sowing dates including early sowing, diverse and durable resistance to rust diseases, adoption of wheat blast resistant varieties in large areas, biofortified and high-quality varieties, and the move towards mainstreaming of zinc (Zn) biofortification.
Singh also paid homage to the award’s namesake, as VS Mathur’s “wheat varieties once occupied fields of many millions of farmers and provided food and nutrition to many more millions throughout India and beyond”.
Singh, a CIMMYT scientist, receives the Sh. VS Mathur Memorial Award for his outstanding contribution in the field of wheat crop improvement. (Credit: SAWBAR)
About SAWBAR:
SAWBAR was founded in 2007 and is housed at ICAR-Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research Karnal (Haryana) India. The Society presently has 300 life members and more than 320 annual and student members. SAWBAR is playing a significant role in bringing wheat and barley researchers on one platform for the exchange of innovative research and dissemination of knowledge related to the latest research happenings in the area of wheat and barley improvement. Annually, SAWBAR gives awards to pioneer cereal workers in various award categories.
About the Sh. VS Mathur Mathur Memorial Award:
The Sh. VS Mathur Memorial Awardwas constituted in year 2018 in the memory of eminent wheat worker Sh. VS Mathur. Mathur was one of the pioneer wheat workers who worked tirelessly with MS Swaminathan and HK Jain and developed a large number of high-yielding wheat varieties viz. Heera, Moti, Janak (HD 1982), Arjun (HD 2009), HD 2177, HD 2182, HD 2204, HD 2236, HD 2278, HD 2281, HD 2285, HD 2329, HD 2307 and HD 2327 for various regions of India.
Firpo was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, where he received a BSc degree as an agronomy engineer in 1997 from the University of the Republic, College of Agronomy. His PhD degree in 2008 was from the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Minnesota (UMN). He began his career as a postdoctoral research associate with the Department of Plant Pathology and the USDA-ARS Cereal Disease Lab, and then became a research assistant professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at UMN in 2017.
Firpo has been a vital member in the global cereal rust pathology community and contributed substantially to the fight against Ug99 and other virulent wheat stem rust races that have re-emerged around the world and pose serious threats to food security. Firpo’s contributions are not only within the realm of research of great impact, but also include training 79 scientists and facilitating the establishment of a world-class research group in Ethiopia. He has worked to improve international germplasm screening in Ethiopia. As a postdoctoral research associate, Firpo’s first assignment was to search for new sources of resistance to Ug99 in durum wheat, used for pasta, and related tetraploid wheat lines. That project took him to Ethiopia, where an international Ug99-screening nursery for durum wheat was established at Debre Zeit Research Center. He worked closely with researchers from the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) and the International Maize and Wheat Research Center (CIMMYT) to improve the methodologies for screening and to provide hands-on training to researchers managing the international screening nursery. During a period of 10 years (from 2009 to 2019), he traveled to Ethiopia 21 times to evaluate stem rust reactions of US and international durum wheat germplasm and completed the screening of the entire durum collection (more than 8,000 accessions) from the USDA National Small Grains Collection.
Firpo’s research on sources and genetics of stem rust resistance led to discoveries of valuable genetic resistance in durum and other relatives of wheat. These sources of resistance have provided the needed diversity to ensure the development and sustainability of durable stem rust resistance.
With frequent epidemics and severe yield losses caused by stem rust in eastern Africa, establishing a functional rust pathology laboratory to support international screening, as well as to monitor and detect new virulences in the pathogen population, became a high priority for the international wheat research community. Utilizing the onground opportunities in Ethiopia, Firpo and his colleagues at the CDL and UMN enthusiastically participated in building up the rust pathology lab at the Ambo Plant Protection Center of EIAR. Firpo traveled to Ambo 11 times to provide hands-on training to staff and to develop cereal rust protocols to suit local conditions. He worked closely with colleagues at CDL, EIAR, and CIMMYT to secure and upgrade facilities, equipment and supplies to a standard that ensures reliable rust work will be carried out. As a result, the rust pathology lab at the Ambo Center became the only laboratory in eastern Africa, and one of a handful in the world, that can conduct high-quality race analysis of wheat stem rust samples and provide vital and necessary support for breeding global wheat varieties for rust resistance. Currently, the laboratory is playing a critical role in the global surveillance of the stem rust pathogen and supports wheat breeding efforts led by EIAR, CIMMYT, and the USDA.
Firpo has been passionate in supporting capacity building of human resources in Ethiopia and elsewhere. He has been eager to share his knowledge whenever he encounters an opportunity to do so. In addition to the direct training of the staff at the Ambo Center, Firpo accepted invitations to provide training lectures and hands-on field- and greenhouse-based workshops on rust pathology at three research centers in Ethiopia. He prepared training materials, delivered a total of 12 lectures and 10 practical sessions in three Ethiopia national workshops in 2014, 2015, and 2017. These workshops enhanced human resource development and technical capacity in Ethiopia in cereal rust pathology; participants included a total of 64 junior scientists and technical staff from nationwide research centers. Beyond Ethiopia, he was responsible for developing and implementing a six-week training program in cereal rust prevention and control for international scientists. This training program, under the aegis of the Stakman-Borlaug Center for Sustainable Plant Health in the Department of Plant Pathology, University of Minnesota, provided an experiential learning opportunity for international scientists interested in acquiring knowledge and practical skills in all facets of working with cereal rusts. The program trained 15 rust pathologists and wheat scientists from Ethiopia, Kenya, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Georgia, and Kyrgyzstan, ranging from promising young scientists selected by the USDA as Borlaug Fellows to principal and senior scientists in their respective countries. Many of these trainees have become vital partners in the global surveillance network for cereal rusts.
Working in collaboration with CDL and international scientists, Firpo has been closely involved in global surveillance of the stem rust pathogen, spurred by monitoring the movements of, and detecting, new variants in the Ug99 race group. Since 2009, he and the team at the CDL have analyzed 2,500 stem rust samples from 22 countries, described over 35 new races, and identified significant virulence combinations that overcome stem rust resistance genes widely deployed in global wheat varieties. Among the most significant discoveries were the identification of active sexual populations of the stem rust pathogen in Kazakhstan, Georgia, Germany, and Spain that have unprecedented virulence and genetic diversities. More than 320 new virulent types (or races) were identified from these sexual populations. Evolution in these populations will present continued challenges to wheat breeding. Research in race analysis has provided valuable pathogen isolates that are used to evaluate breeding germplasm to select for resistant wheat varieties and to identify novel sources of stem rust resistance.
Representatives of the Government of Mexico, the Embassy of India, the National Agricultural Council, the CGIAR and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) at the Sanjaya Rajaram Experimental Station in Toluca, State of Mexico. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés Arredondo/CIMMYT)
Collaboration between food security institutions and research organizations has contributed to improvements in global grain production that have benefitted millions of farmers around the world – and must continue today. This message was highlighted during a ceremony hosted by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) to recognize the legacy of World Food Laureate and former CIMMYT Wheat Program Director Sanjaya Rajaram.
The ceremony, held at the CIMMYT Experimental Station in Toluca, State of Mexico, officially dedicated the Station in honor of Sanjaya Rajaram, honoring his memory as an “enemy of world hunger” and one of the scientists who has most contributed to global food security.
The Indian-born naturalized Mexican researcher, who was the third person from CIMMYT to receive the World Food Prize, was recognized for having developed more than 480 high-yielding and adaptable wheat varieties that have been planted on approximately 58 million hectares around the world.
“For this impressive achievement, which seems easy to summarize in one sentence, Raj became a giant of the ‘right to food’ and one of the fiercest enemies of hunger in the world,” said CIMMYT Director General Bram Govaerts.
“Building on the work of Dr. Norman Borlaug, Dr. Sanjaya Rajaram was a driving force in making CIMMYT into the extraordinary institution that it is today,” said Claudia Sadoff, Managing Director, Research Delivery and Impact of CGIAR, a global research partnership of which CIMMYT is a member.
“The challenges of today compel us to redouble our efforts to breed more resilient and more nutritious crops, as Dr. Sanjaya Rajaram did, Sadoff added. “This ceremony reminds us that Dr Rajaram’s legacy and the ongoing efforts of CIMMYT and CGIAR scientists must answer that.”
Awards for international cooperation in food security
At the event, CIMMYT presented awards to the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, Marcelo Ebrard Casaubón, and of Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER), Víctor Villalobos Arámbula, for their promotion of food security and social inclusion in Mexico and Latin America.
The Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico expressed his gratitude for the Norman E. Borlaug and reaffirmed his commitment to “work in the international arena as we have done, but now we will have to work harder, with greater intensity.”
Bram Govaerts, Director General of CIMMYT, presents the Norman E. Borlaug award to Marcelo Ebrard Casaubón, Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés Arredondo/CIMMYT)
The Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development of Mexico, Víctor Villalobos Arámbula, emphasized that Mexico, Latin America and CIMMYT play an important role in the struggle to improve the conditions of small-scale farmers and the resilience of agri-food systems, noting that more than 300,000 farmers grow maize, wheat and associated crops on over one million hectares in Mexico using sustainable technologies from the CIMMYT-led MasAgro project, now called Crops for Mexico.
“Throughout this administration,” he said, “we have designed, implemented and refined, through collaboration between SADER and CIMMYT, sustainable development strategies with a systemic approach that facilitates the participation of producers in more integrated and efficient value chains both in Mexico and in other countries.”
India’s Ambassador to Mexico, Pankaj Sharma, highlighted that his nation owes a large part of its Green Revolution to the “Sonora” wheat variety, which was developed in Mexico, a country that is considered one of the cradles of agriculture at a global level, with arable land accounting for 15 percent of the total land dedicated to agriculture in the world.
Ravi Singh, Distinguished Scientist and Head of Global Wheat Breeding at CIMMYT, receives an award. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés Arredondo/CIMMYT)
Report on the results of the Crops for Mexico initiative
CIMMYT’s Wheat Germplasm Bank Curator and Genotyping Specialist Carolina Sansaloni presented highlighted impacts from Crops for Mexico, the main cooperative project between the Government of Mexico — through the Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development — and CIMMYT, and a flagship initiative in the application of technologies in sustainable agriculture.
The project has been in operation for more than a decade in 28 states in Mexico, with the collaboration of more than 100 national and international partners and private and public sector agencies in 12 regions, offering research infrastructure and training development for sustainable agronomic practices, she explained.
She reported that the results of 40 platforms, 500 demonstration modules and two thousand extension areas have an impact on more than one million hectares and benefit 300,000 maize, wheat and bean producers, with the use of high-yield varieties.
Rosalinda Muñoz Tafolla, a maize farmer in Amacuzac, in the Mexican state of Morelos, explained that her drive to produce healthy food led her to participate in Crops for Mexico, where CIMMYT’s support and advice has enabled her to dramatically increase her farm’s productivity while protecting the soil and conserving natural resources.
She explained that with the conservation agriculture system she learned to improve soil conditions, planted a new maize variety, and was supported in marketing her harvest at a good price and selling 2,000 maize ears (mostly weighing 200 grams each).
CIMMYT’s Wheat Germplasm Bank Curator and Genotyping Specialist Carolina Sansaloni at the Crops for Mexico presentation. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés Arredondo/CIMMYT)
On the 67th Edition of the Day of the Farmer in Mexico’s Yaqui Valley, Jesús Larraguibele Artola, president of the Agricultural Research and Experimentation Board of the State of Sonora (PIEAES), publicly recognized the work and trajectory of Ravi Singh, Distinguished Scientist and Head of Global Wheat Improvement at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).
An Indian national, Singh first arrived to CIMMYT’s Experimental Station in Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, in 1983, and has since developed 680 wheat varieties in 48 countries, including the Cirno and Borlaug varieties, grown in 98% of the Yaqui Valley’s wheat fields.
At the event, Larraguibele Artola also highlighted the importance of the legacy of Norman Borlaug, father of the Green Revolution, who saved the lives of billions of people from starvation with his improved wheat varieties. He also recalled how the first Day of the Farmer was organized by Borlaug back in 1948, when the American agronomist presented his first rust-resistant wheat varieties to farmers in the region. Over time, the event became a unique place for researchers and scientists in Sonora to increase collaboration with farmers and producers in the region and share their latest scientific advances.
Acknowledging the key role of new technologies and wheat varieties in tackling current and future agricultural challenges, Fátima Yolanda Rodríguez Mendoza, Secretary of Agriculture, Farming, Hydraulic Resources, Fishing and Aquaculture (SAGRHPA) of Sonora, reiterated the commitment of the governor, Alfonso Durazo Montaño, to invest in agricultural research to boost production and drive the growth of the region’s agrifood sector.
“We’ll continue to invest in research and innovation and support scientists, who put their knowledge at the service of the people of Sonora”, she promised.
The paper “Enlisting wild grass genes to combat nitrification in wheat farming: A nature-based solution” received the 2021 Cozzarelli Prize, which recognizes outstanding articles published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS). The paper was published as a joint research collaboration of Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS), the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and Nihon University.
The study identifies of a chromosomal region that regulates the biological nitrification inhibition (BNI) ability of wheat grass (Leymus racemosus), a wild relative of wheat. It also outlines the development of the world’s first BNI-enhanced wheat, through intergeneric crossing with a high-yielding wheat cultivar.
This research result is expected to contribute to the prevention of nitrogen pollution that leads to water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, reducing the use of nitrogen fertilizer while maintaining productivity.
Best of the year
PNAS is one of the most cited scientific journals in the world, publishing more than 3,000 papers per year on all aspects of science. A total of 3,476 papers were published in 2021, covering six fields: Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Biological Sciences, Engineering and Applied Sciences, Biomedical Sciences, Behavioral and Social Sciences, and Applied Biological, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
The Cozzarelli Prize was established in 2005 as the PNAS Paper of the Year Prize and renamed in 2007 to honor late editor-in-chief Nicholas R. Cozzarelli. It is awarded yearly by the journal’s Editorial Board to one paper from each field reflecting scientific excellence and originality. The BNI research paper received the award in the category of Applied Biological, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.
The awards ceremony will be held online on May 1, 2022, and a video introducing the results of this research will be available.
CIMMYT has collaborated with JIRCAS on BNI-enhanced wheat research since 2009, with funding from Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. CIMMYT is one of the founding members of the BNI Consortium, established in 2015.
The CGIAR Research Programs on Wheat (WHEAT) and Maize (MAIZE) co-funded BNI research since 2014 and 2019 respectively, until their conclusion at the end of 2021.
BNI research has been positioned in the “Measures for achievement of Decarbonization and Resilience with Innovation (MeaDRI)” strategy of Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and was also selected as one of the ministry’s “Top 10 agricultural technology news for 2021.”
Jai Prakash Rajaram (left) receives the Padma Bhushan Award on behalf of his late father, Sanjaya Rajaram, from the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind. (Photo: Government of India)
The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, presented the prestigious Padma Bhushan Award for Science & Engineering (Posthumous) to the relatives of Sanjaya Rajaram. The award was received by Rajaram’s son and daughter, Jaiprakash Rajaram and Sheila Rajaram, at a ceremony in New Delhi, India, on March 28, 2022.
The Padma Awards, instituted in 1954, are one of India’s highest civilian honors. Announced annually on the eve of Republic Day, January 26, they are given in three categories: Padma Vipbhushan, for outstanding and distinguished service; Padma Bhushan, for distinguished service of the highest order; and Padma Shri, for distinguished service.
The award seeks to recognize achievement in all fields of activities and disciplines involving a public service item.
Padma Bhushan Award diploma and medal. (Photo: Courtesy of Jai Prakash Rajaram)
Sanjaya Rajaram, who passed away in 2021, was a 2014 World Food Prize laureate and former wheat breeder and Director of the Wheat Program at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).
Among his many accomplishments, he personally oversaw the development of nearly 500 high-yielding and disease-resistant wheat varieties. These varieties, which have been grown on at least 58 million hectares in over 50 countries, increased global wheat production by more than 200 million tons, benefiting hundreds of millions of resource-poor people who rely on wheat for their diets and livelihoods.
Ram Kanwar Malik (center) with his team in Bihar, India, during a field visit.
Today the Weed Science Society of America (WSSA) announced the Honorary Member award for Ram Kanwar Malik, senior scientist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). This award is given every year to a person who has made outstanding contributions to weed science “through their research, teaching, publishing and outreach.”
Malik’s early engagement in agricultural sustainability led to initiatives exploring herbicide resistance evolution and management, zero tillage, and other resource-conservation technologies. At the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) — a regional project led by CIMMYT — Malik and his colleagues helped promote the practice of early wheat sowing to beat terminal heat stress, resulting in increased wheat yield in India’s eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains.
“WSSA’s Honorary Member award is one of the highest recognitions bestowed by the Weed Science Society of America,” said Krishna Reddy, Chair of the WSSA 2022 Award Committee. “[The] Honorary Member is selected for meritorious service to weed science, among non-members from North America or any weed scientist from other countries. Only one person per year is awarded this membership. Dr. Malik’s significant research in weed science and his collaborative effort to deliver solutions for farmers in developing countries like India is inspirational.”
Phalaris minor is a pernicious weed that affects crops like wheat and substantially reduces its yield potential.
Malik has worked extensively in the Indo-Gangetic Plains, leading many initiatives and innovations over the years, in collaboration with national and international partners. The WSSA award highlights Malik’s inspiring work in tackling herbicide resistance problems, first reported in India by his team in 1993. Malik was instrumental in developing a management solution for herbicide-resistant Phalaris minor, a pernicious weed in wheat crops. The integrated weed management system he helped develop raised wheat yield capacity significantly for farmers in the Indo-Gangetic Plains.
“The WSSA Honorary Member award reiterates the importance of agronomic management for sustained weed control strategies across cropping systems,” Malik said. “CIMMYT and partners, including the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), were the first to introduce zero tillage in wheat as part of a strategy to manage weed resistance problems in India. It is an honor that WSSA has recognized this collective work of ours,” he acknowledged.
Malik has devoted more than thirty years to transforming agricultural systems in the Indo-Gangetic Plains, working closely with farmers and partners, and building the capacity of national agricultural and research extension systems. he is a firm believer in farmers’ participation: “Large-scale adoption of sustainable agricultural practices is possible when we work together to leverage technologies which are mutually agreed by partners and meet farmers’ needs.”
Malik is a fellow of the Indian Society of Agronomy and the Indian Society of Weed Science (ISWS), which granted him the Lifetime Achievement Award. He has also received the Outstanding Achievement Award from the International Weed Science Society (IWSS) and the 2015 Derek Tribe Award from the Crawford Fund.
He remains passionate about and invested in changing the lives of farmers through better-bet agronomy and by leading innovative research at CIMMYT.
About the Weed Science Society of America (WSSA)
Founded in 1956, WSSA is a nonprofit scientific society that encourages and promotes the development of knowledge concerning weeds and their impact on the environment.
India has conferred posthumously upon Sanjaya Rajaram, 2014 World Food Prize laureate and former wheat breeder and Director of the Wheat Program at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), its prestigious 2022 Padma Bhushan Award in “Science and Engineering” in recognition of “distinguished service of high order.”
Among the most successful crop breeders in history, Rajaram, who passed away in 2021, personally oversaw the development of nearly 500 high-yielding and disease-resistant wheat varieties that were grown on at least 58 million hectares in over 50 countries, increasing global wheat production by more than 200 million tons and especially benefiting hundreds of millions of the resource-poor whose diets and livelihoods depend on this critical crop. In India and the neighboring South Asian nations of Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan, inhabitants consume more than 120 million tons of wheat and wheat-based foods each year.
“Dr. Rajaram was a true titan of wheat breeding and an inspiration for young researchers, training and mentoring more than 700 scientists from developing countries worldwide,” said Bram Govaerts, CIMMYT director general. “He was also a complete gentleman, comporting himself with modesty and grace despite his many honors and accomplishments; his first priority was helping and crediting others. Rajaram is an example today for all of us to keep working with the final stakeholder — the farmer — in mind.”
The rise from rural beginnings
Born on a small farm in District Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, in 1943, Rajaram studied genetics and plant breeding at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in New Delhi. After receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Sydney, he joined CIMMYT in 1969, working as a wheat breeder alongside Nobel Prize Laureate and CIMMYT scientist Norman Borlaug in Mexico. Recognizing his talent and initiative, Borlaug appointed Rajaram as head of CIMMYT’s wheat breeding program at just 29 years of age.
The Padma Bhushan Award was announced by President Ram Nath Kovind of India on the country’s Republic Day, January 26. In 2015, Rajaram received the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman award, the highest honor conferred on Indians overseas. In 2001 he accepted the Padma Shri award from the government of India and, in 1998, the Friendship Award from the government of China.
Sanjaya Rajaram (Photo: Xochil Fonseca/CIMMYT)
Though a plant breeder and scientist by profession, Rajaram used the platform of his 2014 World Food Prize to promote an expansive, integrated vision for agricultural development. “If we want to make a change, research won’t do it alone; we need to work directly with farmers and to train young agronomists, ensuring they have a broad vision to address the problems in farmers’ fields,” Rajaram said at a news conference in Mexico City in 2014.
Rajaram also served as Director of the Integrated Gene Management Program at the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) before formally retiring in 2008. In his retirement, he continued as a special scientific advisor to CIMMYT and ICARDA.
Longstanding partners pushing forward for farmers
“India’s agricultural research community is proud of the distinguished achievements of Dr. Rajaram,” said Trilochan Mohapatra, Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Secretary of the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), of India’s Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare. “ICAR greatly appreciates its valuable collaborations with CIMMYT to help farmers grow better crops and conserve resources under increasingly challenging conditions.”
The partnership of India with CIMMYT harks back to the 1960s-70s, when Indian farmers tripled national wheat yields in a few years by growing Borlaug’s high-yield wheat varieties and adopting improved farming practices.
In 2011, India and CIMMYT jointly launched the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) to improve cropping systems and food security, helping farmers to confront climate change and natural resource scarcities, among other challenges.
S. Ayyappan, former ICAR Director General who signed the joint declaration of intent for BISA’s establishment in India, has been honored with the 2022 Padma Shri Award.
CIMMYT is a non-profit international agricultural research and training organization focusing on two of the world’s most important cereal grains, maize and wheat, and related cropping systems and livelihoods. Wheat varieties derived from CIMMYT and ICARDA research cover more than 100 million hectares — nearly two-thirds of the area sown to improved wheat worldwide — and bring benefits in added grain worth as much as $3.8 billion each year.
CIMMYT director general Bram Govaerts (left) presents during the AMSAC award ceremony in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico. (Photo: Ricardo Curiel/CIMMYT)
The Association of Mexican Seed Producers (Asociación Mexicana de Semilleros, A.C., or AMSAC) gave the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) its annual Cesár Garza Award for work by MasAgro (Crops for Mexico), a project that develops and spreads high-yielding, climate resilient maize and improved farming practices in Mexico. MasAgro is operated by CIMMYT and Mexico’s Secretariat of Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER).
“We unanimously selected CIMMYT for having established an effective and inclusive network of some 100 Mexican testing sites to generate and spread hybrid seed adapted to the country’s diverse agro-ecologies,” said José Luis Gastelum Careaga, president of the governing council of AMSAC, a group of more than 70 seed companies.
The award ceremony took place in Playa del Carmen, in Mexico’s Quintano Roo state, on November 4, 2021.
CIMMYT breeding research is behind the development of 70 new maize hybrids released in Mexico by dozens of small- and intermediate-scale seed companies, helping to double the maize yields of farmers who adopt them, according to Bram Govaerts, CIMMYT director general and leader of the Center’s work in MasAgro.
“AMSAC’s recognition comes at a crucial time, when public support for crop breeding, seed systems, and capacity building are more urgent than ever in the face of climate change and increased, pandemic-related food insecurity,” Govaerts said. “We’ll leverage this prestigious award and our strong partnership with AMSAC members to move toward an improved and more widespread version of MasAgro’s integrated approach for transforming Mexico’s cereal crop farming systems.”
Propelling public-private partnerships
CIMMYT director general Bram Govaerts (right) collects the Cesár Garza Award given to the MasAgro (Crops for Mexico) project. (Photo: Ricardo Curiel/CIMMYT)
Taking advantage of CIMMYT training and breeding lines, Mexican seed producers working with MasAgro have boosted their maize seed sales 33% — or 4.6% yearly — during 2011–20, Govaerts said.
This and the recent award illustrate CIMMYT’s success at sharing improved maize through powerful, decades-long partnerships with public and private entities. Small- and medium-scale seed companies have benefitted from access to CIMMYT breeding lines, technical support, business model training, and Center participation in efforts to foster competitive seed markets, according to a recently published book documenting 50 years of maize research by CIMMYT and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). Both centers are members of CGIAR, the world’s largest global agricultural innovation network.
“The increased number and market share of [small- and medium-scale] maize seed companies in Mexico and sub-Saharan Africa in recent years are strongly linked to the availability of stable, stress tolerant inbreds from CGIAR programs,” the book’s executive summary states. “The annual production … of over 130,000 tons of seed of CGIAR-derived stress-tolerant hybrids in Africa by [small- and medium-scale enterprises] … has addressed an important gap in seed markets not being met by multi-national companies.”
In 2015 more than a third of the area in sub-Saharan Africa was sown to new varieties and hybrids derived from CIMMYT and IITA breeding research, and adoption has accelerated since then, generating from $0.66 to 1.05 billion each year in economic benefits, according to a 2021 study.
As part of CIMMYT partnerships with large, multi-national seed companies, the Center has obtained royalty-free licenses to use proprietary technology and maize hybrids in specific areas of Africa, focusing on small-scale farmers. These partnerships, as well as similar agreements with advanced public research institutes, have fostered more widespread application for tropical maize of tools such as genomic selection, database software, and doubled haploids.
In Asia, building on collaborations from as far back as the 1960s, CIMMYT launched a maize improvement consortium in 2010 involving 25 mostly small- and medium-scale seed companies. For a modest annual fee to fund consortium management, members have access to early- and advanced-generation CIMMYT inbred lines and trait donors, as well as support services for hybrid development. This model has subsequently been copied in Mexico and in eastern and southern Africa (17 companies).
“CIMMYT science and support for maize and wheat farming systems span more than six decades and have brought impressive, well documented impacts in improved harvests and food security for those who grow and consume these globally-critical staple crops,” Govaerts said. “On behalf of the Center, I would like to recognize and thank those who fund our work, and especially the hundreds of skilled and committed partners without whom our efforts would not be possible.”
Three scientists from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) have been included in the Highly Cited Researchers list for 2021, published by the Web of Science Group.
The list recognizes researchers who demonstrated significant influence in their field, or across fields, through the publication of multiple highly cited papers during the last decade. Their names are drawn from the publications that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and publication year in the Web of Science citation index.
Called a “who’s who” of influential researchers, the list draws on data and analysis performed by bibliometric experts and data scientists at the Institute for Scientific Information at Clarivate, the company which publishes the list.
This year, the three CIMMYT scientists listed are:
Ravi Singh, head of global wheat improvement at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), received the 2021 Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI) Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to protecting wheat from new races of some of agriculture’s oldest and most devastating diseases.
CIMMYT distinguished scientist Ravi Singh conducts research on a wheat field while. (Photo: BGRI)
World-renowned plant breeder Ravi Singh, whose elite wheat varieties reduced the risk of a global pandemic and now feed hundreds of millions of people around the world, has been announced as the 2021 Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI) Lifetime Achievement Award recipient.
Singh, distinguished scientist and head of Global Wheat Improvement at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), endowed hundreds of modern wheat varieties with durable resistance to fungal pathogens that cause leaf rust, stem rust, stripe rust and other diseases during his career. His scientific efforts protect wheat from new races of some of agriculture’s oldest and most devastating diseases, safeguard the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in the most vulnerable areas in the world, and enhance food security for the billions of people whose daily nutrition depends on wheat consumption.
“Ravi’s innovations as a scientific leader not only made the Cornell University-led Borlaug Global Rust Initiative possible, but his breeding innovations are chiefly responsible for the BGRI’s great success,” said Ronnie Coffman, vice chair of the BGRI and international professor of global development at Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. “Perhaps more than any other individual, Ravi has furthered Norman Borlaug’s and the BGRI’s goal that we maintain the global wheat scientific community and continue the crucial task of working together across international borders for wheat security.”
In the early 2000s, when a highly virulent rust race discovered in East Africa threatened most of the world’s wheat, Singh took a key leadership role in the formation of a global scientific coalition to combat the threat. Along with Borlaug, Coffman and other scientists, he served as a panel member on the pivotal report alerting the international community to the Ug99 outbreak and its potential impacts to global food security. That sounding of the alarm spurred the creation of the BGRI and the collaborative international effort to stop Ug99 before it could take hold on a global scale.
As a scientific objective leader for the BGRI’s Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat and Delivering Genetic Gain in Wheat projects, Singh led efforts to generate and share a series of elite wheat lines featuring durable resistance to all three rusts. The results since 2008 include resistance to the 12 races of the Ug99 lineage and new, high-temperature-tolerant races of stripe rust fungus that had been evolving and spreading worldwide since the beginning of the 21st century.
“Thanks to Ravi Singh’s vision and applied science, the dire global threat of Ug99 and other rusts has been averted, fulfilling Dr. Borlaug’s fervent wishes to sustain wheat productivity growth, and contributing to the economic and environmental benefits from reduced fungicide use,” Coffman said. “Ravi’s innovative research team at CIMMYT offered crucial global resources to stop the spread of Ug99 and the avert the human catastrophe that would have resulted.”
An innovative wheat breeder known for his inexhaustible knowledge and attention to genetic detail, Singh helped establish the practice of “pyramiding” multiple rust-resistance genes into a single variety to confer immunity. This practice of adding complex resistance in a way that makes it difficult for evolving pathogens to overcome new varieties of wheat now forms the backbone of rust resistance breeding at CIMMYT and other national programs.
Ravi Singh (center) with Norman Borlaug (left) and Hans Braun in the wheat fields at CIMMYT’s experimental station in Ciudad Obregón, in Mexico’s Sonora state. (Photo: CIMMYT)
The global champion for durable resistance
Ravi joined CIMMYT in 1983 and was tasked by his supervisor, mentor and friend, the late World Food Prize Winner Sanjaya Rajaram, to develop wheat lines with durable resistance, said Hans Braun, former director of CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program.
“Ravi did this painstaking work — to combine recessive resistance genes — for two decades as a rust geneticist and, as leader of CIMMYT’s Global Spring Wheat Program, he transferred them at large scale into elite lines that are now grown worldwide,” Braun said. “Thanks to Ravi and his colleagues, there has been no major rust epidemic in the Global South for years, a cornerstone for global wheat security.”
Alison Bentley, Director of CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program, said that “Building on Ravi’s exceptional work throughout his career, deployment of durable rust resistance in widely adapted wheat germplasm continues to be a foundation of CIMMYT’s wheat breeding strategy.”
Revered for his determination and work ethic throughout his career, Singh has contributed to the development of 649 wheat varieties released in 48 countries, working closely with scientists at national wheat programs in the Global South. Those varieties today are sown on approximately 30 million hectares annually in nearly all wheat growing countries of southern and West Asia, Africa and Latin America. Of these varieties, 224 were developed directly under his leadership and are grown on an estimated 10 million hectares each year.
In his career Singh has authored 328 refereed journal articles and reviews, 32 book chapters and extension publications, and more than 80 symposia presentations. He is regularly ranked in the top 1% of cited researchers. The CIMMYT team that Singh leads identified and designated 22 genes in wheat for resistance or tolerance to stem rust, leaf rust, stripe rust, powdery mildew, barley yellow dwarf virus, spot blotch, and wheat blast, as well as characterizing various other important wheat genome locations contributing to durable resistance in wheat.
Singh’s impact as a plant breeder and steward of genetic resources over the past four decades has been extraordinary, according to Braun: “Ravi Singh can definitely be called the global champion for durable resistance.”
The Indian researcher leads CIMMYT’s environmental analytics work in South Asia, combining field experimentation, participatory engagement and cropping systems modelling to address the region’s productivity and sustainability challenges in cereal systems.
Charles Sturt University (CSU) awarded him with the 2021 Alumnus of the Year title in Professional Achievement (Research) as part of its Foundation Day celebrations on July 21.
Three scientists from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) have been included in the 
