Tag: CIMMYT50

Lindiwe Majele Sibanda of the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network delivers a presentation at the CIMMYT 50th anniversary conference. CIMMYT/Alfonso Cortes

Food security requires acceleration of advanced science, not just “feeding,” CIMMYT 50 delegates say

Written by on September 28, 2016. Posted in News.

MEXICO CITY (CIMMYT) – The agriculture for development sector must begin “nourishing” families with nutrition-sensitive interventions instead of focusing on “feeding,” said a leading food security expert at a conference in Mexico City hosted by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), which is celebrating its 50^thanniversary.

“We’ve spent a lot of time in the last 50 years in the comfort zone of ‘feeding’,” said Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, chief executive for the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) in southern Africa.

On a panel of experts, which included researchers, policymakers, farmers and the private sector, Sibanda urged almost 1,000 delegates attending the three day conference to consider the potential risks of focusing solely on boosting yields and fortifying grains with micronutrients and vitamin A, rather than developing strategies for increased dietary diversity.

The panel also discussed topics related to agricultural research and development such as food security and nutrition, climate change, the social tensions that are both cause and result of migration, scientific developments and new technologies.

After the first day, a mixture of formal and celebratory activities at the CIMMYT research station in El Batan outside Mexico City, delegates relocated to the city to tackle such wide-ranging topics as nutrition, the newly approved portfolio for the CGIAR system of agricultural researchers to which CIMMYT belongs, funding, scientific developments, new technologies and technical innovations.

We are not yet on the right trajectory when it comes to nutrition and health outcomes, said Juergen Voegele, senior director, agriculture global practice World Bank and CGIAR System Council Chair.

“Without a CGIAR there would be 100 countries in conflict and not the 60 that we know today,” Voegele said. “The CGIAR has a major role to play in ensuring nutrition security and peace and conflict resolution.”

He said that productivity increases achieved in the 1980s and 1990s were ahead of population growth, but are currently lagging behind, leading to the necessity to increase funding for the CGIAR. Currently, for every dollar invested in the CGIAR, the return is $17, in some programs rising up to $100.

“At the current trajectory, we will not solve the world’s food challenges,” he said, adding that recent reforms have contributed much to focusing the efforts of the CGIAR towards the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals, 15 measurable targets aimed at reducing poverty, and reaffirmed the World Bank’s commitment to championing and supporting CGIAR research.

The challenges are vast, said Martin Kropff, CIMMYT’s director general. “We have more people, less land, greater demand, all in the face of climate change.”

For food prices to remain constant, annual yield gains for maize would have to increase from 1.2 percent to 1.7 percent. For wheat they would have to increase from 1.1 percent to 1.7 percent.

A new agreement signed by CIMMYT and agri-seed company Dupont Pioneer at the conference, which will use CRISPR-Cas advanced breeding technologies to develop improved crops by using the best characteristics native to the plant, aims to streamline research into plant breeding and disease.

“It has become abundantly clear that there are at least two essential ingredients to feeding a growing population –innovation and farmers — and we must do a better job of connecting the two,” said Paul Schickler, president of Dupont Pioneer

The technology will be put to use first to challenge Maize Lethal Necrosis disease in sub-Saharan Africa, which first emerged in Kenya in 2011 and affects almost a quarter of total maize production with annual losses of about $110 million and up to 90 percent yield loss on individual farms, Schickler said.

“Usually, cutting-edge technologies benefit farmers in high income countries first,” said Marianne Banziger, CIMMYT’s deputy director general, commenting on the agreement between CIMMYT and Dupont Pioneer.

“The public-private partnership allows us to extend such benefits much more rapidly to farmers in low- and middle-income countries, addressing problems they uniquely face, giving them equal opportunities. As a result, we democratize access to new technologies.”

Among many recent scientific advancements, innovative remote sensing and satellite imagery technologies for assessing the effectiveness of research results in the field are increasingly being used.

Scientist David Lobell of Stanford University said that he uses satellite images to estimate which crops are being grown by farmers and the yields they obtain. Jose Luis Araus of the University of Barcelona spoke of a virtual revolution where phenotyping assessments are moving from the ground-based time consuming assessments to much more rapid assessments using drones and airplanes.

Other scientists, such as Ken Giller from the University of Wageningen described his work evaluating farm-level technology adoption.

“The fast-growing population of Africa is pushing down farm sizes, making it less likely that food security can be achieved in the near future,” Giller said. “We need to find new approaches to ensure that the combination of off-farm and on-farm incomes achieve household food security and, more, get farmers out of poverty.”

Mexico’s sub-secretary of agriculture, Jorge Armando Narváez Narváez, was among the many international agriculture experts and government officials who spoke at the conference, emphasizing the need to have reliable and market-oriented agricultural research and development platforms.

The benefits of global agricultural research that made improved hybrid maize seeds and fertilizer available to smallholders in the 1980s were illustrated by development economist and Cornell University Ph.D. graduate Ed Mabaya, who grew up on a hillside maize-livestock farm in rural Zimbabwe.

He recounted a meeting he had with a childhood friend whose fate was to remain in the village, struggling to survive and feed his family.

Mabaya concluded that his parents’ use of improved seed and farming practices derived from agricultural research helped open a pathway out of poverty for his family, with similar experiences for other progressive farmers in the community.

Reporting by Bianca Beks, Connie Castro, Ricardo Curiel, Jennifer Johnson, Mike Listman, Genevieve Renard, Miriam Shindler and Sam Storr.

New generation of hunger fighters needed, says Julie Borlaug at CIMMYT 50th anniversary

Written by on September 26, 2016. Posted in News.

Julie Borlaug (R) stands with her mother, Jeannie Laube Borlaug, beside a statue of her grandfather Norman Borlaug at the Mexico headquarters of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in El Batan. CIMMYT/Marcelo Ortiz

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Encouraging youth willing to become “hunger fighters” to take up the challenges of farming despite erratic weather caused by climate change, drought, dwindling water supplies and nutrient-depleted soil, is key to future food security, said Julie Borlaug, associate director for external relations at the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture at Texas A&M University.

These hunger fighters must embrace technological innovation, creativity, bold ideas and collaborate across all disciplines, while also effectively engaging smallholder farmers and private and public sectors to come up with sustainable solutions, Borlaug said, adding that the average age of a farmer in the United States and Africa is well over 50 years.

Julie Borlaug, the granddaughter of 1970 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Norman Borlaug, a former key wheat breeder at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) known internationally as the father of the Green Revolution, will address delegates at the CIMMYT 50^th anniversary conference on September 27, 2016 with a speech titled, “CIMMYT’s future as a Borlaug legacy.”

After 50 years, CIMMYT remains relevant in the fight for food security and an important part of the Borlaug legacy, Borlaug said, adding that technological innovation is needed to address agriculture and the challenge of climate change.

“Since the seven years of his passing, I know my grandfather would be pleased by the leadership team and all at CIMMYT. As hunger fighters and the next generation, they have made CIMMYT their institution and continue to advocate strongly for improvement in science and technology to feed the world,” she said.

Her grandfather, who started work on wheat improvement in the mid-1940s in Mexico, where CIMMYT is headquartered near Mexico City, led efforts to develop semi-dwarf wheat varieties in the mid-20th century that helped save more than 1 billion lives in Pakistan, India and other areas of the developing world. In his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Norman Borlaug paid tribute to the “army of hunger fighters” with whom he had worked.

Borlaug shared some views on CIMMYT and the future of agriculture in the following interview.

Q: What are the key challenges the world faces into the future?

In my opinion, the entire agricultural community should focus on addressing three major challenges: the first is climate change and erratic weather patterns. Droughts and a decline of limited natural resources such as water and soil are of major consequence to agricultural productivity. The second major challenge is the societal resistance to new technologies and innovation. And the third major challenge we are facing is how to engage the next generation to work in the agricultural sector.

To address the first challenge, we must have biotechnology and technological innovation across the board to address issues that will stem from climate change. The utilization of drought, heat and saline tolerant crops, informatics, and other innovations will be a necessity. Technology will be part of the integrated solution that creates better farming systems, more nutritious foods and addresses all the issues that come with climate change and sustainability.

It is important to understand the societal resistance to new technologies and innovation. I understand their skepticisms and confusion. It is important to note that when speaking to these critics, we keep in mind the campaigns that have been mounted against our industry and have spread fear and inaccurate information that the public has accepted as fact. In my opinion, the agricultural industry has to improve in explaining to the public why modern agriculture is so important to our future and why the opposition to it cannot be permitted to deprive millions of people of its promise.

Q: What is significant about CIMMYT: What role has CIMMYT played in your area of work?

CIMMYT is both personally and professionally significant to me. Personally, I have grown up knowing how deeply invested, protective and grateful my grandfather was to the role CIMMYT played in his career, the Green Revolution and as a leader in international maize and wheat research. CIMMYT was not just a place in which my grandfather was employed but part of his family. All who met, worked with my grandfather or had the opportunity to have an early morning CIMMYT breakfast with him, remember the deep interest he had in their careers and research as well as his often too candid assessment of their current & future work. His passion for CIMMYT never faded and in the end of his life his return “home” to his Yaqui Valley wheat fields in Sonora, Mexico, gave him hope for the future of CIMMYT, the CGIAR system as a whole and international research and development in agriculture.

Professionally for me, CIMMYT has helped me learn more about my grandfather professionally but it has also broadened my depth and knowledge of maize and wheat research as well as the importance for the CG system. At the Borlaug Institute at Texas A&M, we work in international agriculture development and have had the opportunity to partner with CIMMYT on many occasions. I promised my grandfather that I would help to bring all the Borlaug Legacy Institutions together to work collaboratively and not competitively as we once had. CIMMYT was the first Borlaug legacy institution to join us in working collectively towards my grandfather legacy to end hunger and poverty.

CIMMYT museum highlights cultural aspects of maize and wheat

Written by on September 21, 2016. Posted in News.

TEXCOCO, Mexico (CIMMYT) – A new museum in Mexico provides historical background and context for scientific research into maize and wheat, emphasizing agricultural achievements in the developing world.

The inaugural exhibition at the museum opened on Wednesday to coincide with the 50^th anniversary celebrations of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

“The interactive displays in this vibrant and informative space underscore the significance of 50 years of maize and wheat research conducted throughout the world,” said Martin Kropff, CIMMYT director general. “We now have a space at CIMMYT that allows visitors to dig into the history, present and future of the center in an innovative way.”

CIMMYT has helped reduce the proportion of hungry people from about half the global population in the 1960s to below 20 percent today. Yearly economic benefits from its research and training activities, conducted on a budget of $180 million, are conservatively estimated at $4 billion.

The 200-square-meter (2,150-square-foot) museum is based at CIMMYT’s El Batan headquarters, promoting the work of CIMMYT’s scientific research and focusing on achievements and on the ground impacts in the world and raising awareness of future challenges. It features information and displays about staff achievements, including those of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Norman Borlaug. Scientists working at CIMMYT have been honored with the Nobel Peace Prize, three World Food Prizes and many other significant awards.

The museum represents a bridge between two of CIMMYT’s director generals, with former Director General Thomas Lumpkin spearheading the initiative and Kropff carrying out and completing this vision during the ceremony today.

Visitors to the museum can explore the cultural and historical significance of maize and wheat.

“The museum engages visitors in the cultural aspects of research that can amplify understanding of its socio-cultural impact and generate dialogue,” said Richard Fulss, head of CIMMYT’s knowledge management unit in charge of the museum. “It expresses CIMMYT’s scientific developments in new ways, illustrating it in various themes and topics showcasing its global scope and impacts.”

Interactive illustrations of maize and wheat portray origins, historical influence on emerging nations and how the crops are consumed in different parts of the world.

Of key importance to the museum will be how staple maize and wheat crops have evolved over time, including the role of tools and technology, work in the research labs and the diversity of seeds kept by CIMMYT.