From October 31 to November 12, all eyes and cameras turned to Glasgow, where the 26th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Convention against Climate Change (COP26) took place in a hybrid format. With temperatures rising around the world and extreme weather events becoming increasingly frequent, country leaders and climate experts came together in Scotland to discuss the next steps in the fight against climate change.
Together with other CGIAR Centers, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) took part in this crucial conversation, drawing attention to the impact of climate change on smallholder agriculture and echoing CGIAR’s call for increased funding for agricultural research and innovation.
Here’s a summary of the events in which CIMMYT researchers and scientists participated.
“Because farmers feed us all: using climate for a resilient food system”
November 6, 2021
Sponsored by the UK Met Office, this event focused on the effects of climate change on the resilience of food systems and how this impact is factored into decision-making. Speakers discussed the real-life application of climate risk information, highlighting the importance of global collaboration and multi-stakeholder partnerships in developing context-specific climate services.
Focusing on CIMMYT’s work in Ethiopia, research associate Yoseph Alemayehu and senior scientist Dave Hodson provided some insights on the wheat rust early warning system. This revolutionary mechanism developed by CIMMYT and partners helps farmers in developing countries predict this disease up to a week in advance.
“COP26 highlighted the vulnerability of different agriculture sectors to climate change, including increased threats from pests and pathogens. From the work in Ethiopia on wheat rust early warning systems, strong partnerships and the application of advanced climate science can play an important role in mitigating some of the effects.” – Dave Hodson
“Developing Climate Resilient Food Systems Pathways: Approaches From Sub-Saharan Africa”
November 8, 2021
Putting an emphasis on participatory governance and community-centered technologies, this event showcased innovative approaches to strengthen the resilience of African food systems, calling for increased investment in the scale-up of climate-smart agriculture practices to meet growing demand.
Joining from Zimbabwe, Christian Thierfelder, Principal Cropping Systems Agronomist gave an overview of CIMMYT’s work in southern Africa, explaining how the introduction of conservation agriculture back in 2004 helped farmers overcome low crop yields and boost their incomes.
“If one thing was made clear at COP26, it is the urgent need for a change in the way we do agriculture. The status quo is not an option and we, as CIMMYT and part of the One CGIAR, will continue to generate the scientific evidence and climate-smart solutions to accelerate this change and address the climate challenges ahead of us, with farmers at the core of our work.” – Christian Thierfelder
“4 per 1000” Initiative Day
November 10, 2021
The “4 per 1000” Initiative, a multi-stakeholder partnership of more than 650 members on food security and climate change, held a day-long hybrid event to explore how healthy soils can help agriculture and forestry adapt to and mitigate climate change.
At the Partner Forum, Bram Govaerts, Director General of CIMMYT, stressed the urgent need to fund soil science to achieve its carbon sequestration potential, reiterating CIMMYT’s commitment to supporting this science with results-oriented actions that scale out sustainable practices and technologies.
“For me, the main take-away of the summit is the growing consensus and understanding that we need to transform agriculture and food systems to achieve global emissions targets on time.” – Bram Govaerts
Cover photo: The action zone and the globe at the Hydro, one of the venues in Glasgow where COP26 took place. (Photo: Karwai Tang/UK Government)
The current focus in nutritional circles on micronutrient malnutrition and unhealthy eating habits has raised questions about continuing to invest in research on energy-rich cereal crops and related farming systems.
In this new paper in the International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, development scientists make the case that cereal foods are an important vehicle for enhanced nutrition – with additional improvement possible through plant breeding and interventions in processing, manufacturing and distribution. It also explains cereals are a rich source of both dietary fiber and a range of bioactive food components that are essential for good health and well-being.
The authors suggest a balanced, integrated research approach to support the sustainable production of both nutrient-rich crops and the basic cereals used in humanity’s most widely consumed and popular foods.
As the calendar turns to October 16, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) celebrates World Food Day. This year’s theme is “Our actions are our future.”
They cover the journey of food (for example, cereals, vegetables, fish, fruits and livestock) from farm to table — including when it is grown, harvested, processed, packaged, transported, distributed, traded, bought, prepared, eaten and disposed of. It also encompasses non-food products (for example forestry, animal rearing, use of feedstock, biomass to produce biofuels, and fibers) that constitute livelihoods, and all the people, as well as the activities, investments and choices that play a part in getting us these food and agricultural products.
The food we choose and the way we produce, prepare, cook and store it make us an integral and active part of the way in which an agri-food system works.
A sustainable agri-food system is one in which a variety of sufficient, nutritious and safe foods is available at an affordable price to everyone, and nobody is hungry or suffers from any form of malnutrition. The shelves are stocked at the local market or food store, but less food is wasted and the food supply chain is more resilient to shocks such as extreme weather, price spikes or pandemics, all while limiting, rather than worsening, environmental degradation or climate change. In fact, sustainable agri-food systems deliver food security and nutrition for all, without compromising the economic, social and environmental bases, for generations to come. They lead to better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life for all.
Let’s fix the system
The contradictions could not be starker — millions of people are hungry or undernourished, while large numbers are chronically overweight due to a poor diet. Smallholder farmers produce more than one-third of the world’s food, yet are some of the worst affected by poverty, as agriculture continues to be an unpredictable sector. Agri-food systems are major contributors to climate change, which in turn threatens food production in some of the world’s poorest areas. Rampant food loss and waste, side by side with people relying on food banks or emergency food aid.
The evidence is there for all to see — there has never been a more urgent need to transform the way the world produces and consumes food.
This year, for World Food Day, we bring you four stories about CIMMYT’s work to support sustainable agri-food systems.
Better production
CGIAR centers present methodology for transforming resource-constrained, polluting and vulnerable farming into inclusive, sustainable and resilient food systems that deliver healthy and affordable diets for all within planetary boundaries.
CIMMYT scientists expect to sharply ramp up new wheat varieties enriched with zinc that can boost the essential mineral for millions of poor people with deficient diets. Newly-developed high-zinc wheat is expected to make up at least 80% of varieties distributed worldwide over the next ten years, up from about 9% currently.
A woman makes roti, an unleavened flatbread made with wheat flour and eaten as a staple food, at her home in the Dinajpur district of Bangladesh. (Photo: S. Mojumder/Drik/CIMMYT)
Better environment
Understanding the relationship between climate change and plant health is key to conserving biodiversity and boosting food production today and for future generations.
Durum wheat field landscape at CIMMYT’s experimental station in Toluca, Mexico. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés/CIMMYT)
Better life
Assessing value chain development’s potential and limitations for strengthening the livelihoods of the rural poor, a new book draws conclusions applicable across the development field.
A researcher from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) demonstrates the use of a farming app in the field. (Photo: C. De Bode/CGIAR)
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On September 23, 2021, the United Nations is convening a Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) as part of the Decade of Action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. The Summit will launch bold new actions to deliver progress on all 17 SDGs, each of which relies in part on healthier, more sustainable and equitable food systems.
According to the UN, the term “food system” encompasses every person and every process involved in growing, raising or making food, and getting it into your stomach. The health of our food systems profoundly affects the health of our bodies, as well as the health of our environment, our economies and our cultures. When they function well, food systems have the power to bring us together as families, communities and nations.
As the world’s largest public agricultural research network, CGIAR has made invaluable contributions to global efforts to reach these 17 goals. CIMMYT plays an important role in these efforts.
Throughout September, in recognition of the historic UN Summit, we are highlighting the impact of CIMMYT research to attain the SDGs, in collaboration with the broader CGIAR and development community.
Cover photo: Across the globe, maize and wheat make up a large part of human diets and are an integral element of a healthy and sustainable food system. (Photo: A. Cortés/CIMMYT)
A MasAgro-supported farmer in Mexico holds up a selection of maize varieties. (Photo: CIMMYT)
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is contributing to make Mexico’s agriculture more productive, sustainable and resilient, according to a new report by The Economist Intelligence Unit and Barilla Foundation.
The study focuses on food loss and waste, sustainable agriculture, and nutritional challenges to assess how sustainable and resilient are the food systems of the 20 largest and most advanced economies of the world, which could lead the way to achieve the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
The authors discuss the intricacies between national food systems and progress towards SDGs as a cross-cutting issue: “The challenge for the agricultural sectors in the G20 countries is to make their production processes more efficient so that they are growing sufficient food for their populations and their exporters, but doing so in a way that is decoupled from resource use, repairs the damage that has already been done to the planet, helps to raise nutritional standards, and in the wake of the pandemic, rebuilds our resilience to the emergence of diseases.”
Against this backdrop, the data systems of CIMMYT’s MasAgro project are identified as an innovation or best practice that helps cut agriculture’s carbon footprint in Mexico. Under Masagro, CIMMYT monitors over 150,000 farmers and more than 500 variables of the growing cycle per farming plot.
“Farmers can then access data analysis via an app which provides them with a range of information to help them improve productivity, use more sustainable practices and access markets,” the report states.
Women farmers in Mexico attend a MasAgro field day. (Photo: CIMMYT)
The authors conclude that G20 leaders still have a narrow opportunity to adopt a systems approach to reducing food loss and waste, mitigating the impact of food production on the environment, and increasing the nutritional content of global diets to achieve the SDGs by 2030.
However, the policy responses needed to trigger a transformational change in global food systems require political will and leadership. “Involving different stakeholders in improving the sustainability of agriculture is key, according to Bram Govaerts of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT),” reads the report.
A multi-disciplinary team of agricultural researchers and development practitioners is proposing a new approach to tackle the shortcomings of global food production systems that degrade the environment, greatly contribute to climate change and fail to deliver healthy diets for a growing population.
The new methodology developed by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in collaboration with the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) aims to transform national food systems by achieving consensus between multiple stakeholders and building on successful participatory agricultural research experiences.
According to a peer-reviewed paper published today in the journal PLOS ONE, the Integrated Agri-food System Initiative (IASI) “is designed to generate strategies, actions, and quantitative, [Sustainable Development Goals] SDGs-aligned targets that have [a significant] likelihood of supportive public and private investment”.
The IASI methodology is based on successful integrated development projects implemented by CIMMYT in Mexico and Colombia, the latter in partnership with the Alliance Bioversity-CIAT, which engaged multiple public, private and civil sector collaborators in local maize systems enhancement. These initiatives took advantage of sociopolitical “windows of opportunity” that helped build multiple stakeholder consensus around health, nutrition, food security and development aspirations in both countries.
“CIMMYT’s integrated development approach to maize systems transformation in Mexico and Colombia laid the foundations of the IASI methodology by overcoming government transitions, annual budget constraints and win-or-lose rivalry between stakeholders in favor of equity, profitability, resilience and sustainability,” said Bram Govaerts, chief operating officer and Integrated Development Program director at CIMMYT.
Ultimately, the IASI methodology offers public officials and development practitioners the possibility to transform food systems by scaling out innovative farming practices and technologies that lead to sustainably managed natural resources and improved nutrition and food security.
The main steps to implement the IASI methodology are:
Diverse experts examine the current status and the business-as-usual scenario based on analysis of the socioeconomic, political, and sectoral context and model-based projections;
Stakeholders determine a preferred future scenario based on assessment of national implications, and define drivers of change toward a desired scenario;
Defined criteria are applied to stakeholder and expert inputs to validate drivers of change and to identify strategies and actions — for example, public policies, value chain and market interventions, and biotechnology applications — that can steer toward the preferred future scenario, which are then reviewed and prioritized by high-level decision makers;
Stakeholders agree on measurable targets and tangible, time-bound actions toward the preferred future scenario;
Stakeholders build shared commitment to a tactical implementation plan among traditional, non-traditional, and new partners;
Ongoing stakeholder engagement is organized around an online dashboard that tracks actions and progress toward targets and supports course correction and coordinated investment.
Following these steps, the authors of the IASI methodology propose to build a “global food systems transformation network” to co-design and co-implement agricultural development projects that bring together multiple partners and donors for global agricultural systems transformation.
As the approach is refined and further applications are built, it is expected that this network will harness efforts to initiate a new field of research and global practice on “integrated methodologies for food system transformation and innovation” — analogous to the fields of business administration and organizational development.
IASI serves as the backbone of new CGIAR Regional Integrated Initiatives, which draw on capacities from regional international agricultural research centers and programs to deliver global agri-food system transformation.
Amidst the transition to One CGIAR and COVID-19 lockdowns, the world’s leading maize and wheat research organization’s community found the time to slow down and weigh the successes and bottlenecks of this complicated year. More than 400 people spread across the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center’s (CIMMYT) 13 offices worldwide gathered for an all-staff virtual event to close 2020.
Aided by world-renowned economist Jeffrey Sachs’ vast experience in detangling global crises, sustainable development and poverty alleviation, staff reflected on the role they play within CGIAR and in helping CIMMYT increase its impact on nutrition security, poverty alleviation and a better world.
Connecting from his home in New York, Sachs urged CGIAR to see beyond the research priorities it set out to accomplish a half a century ago. With the 50th anniversary of CGIAR in 2021, Sachs encouraged CGIAR to think about the research priorities for the next 50 years. “We’re confronting a probably more systemic and even more complex set of challenges in food in 2021, than perhaps was the case in 1971,” he said.
“We need to expand the research agenda beyond the still-important focus on improved yields and varieties to consider the food system holistically. Our goal is a global food system that enables healthy diets, sustainable land use, resilience to environmental change, and good livelihoods for farm families.”
“Our goal is a global food system that enables healthy diets, sustainable land use, resilience to environmental change, and good livelihoods for farm families.”
Albeit not as famous as its colleague organizations the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP), CGIAR has been called “essential to feeding our future” by Bill Gates. Sachs echoed this sentiment and urged CGIAR to embrace its vital role in “achieving sustainable agriculture and healthy diets for all.”
The next 50 years
As CIMMYT moves into One CGIAR, it will capitalize on its over 50 years of experience, impact and expertise in genetic innovations, systems transformation and tools for resilient agri-food systems and fully embrace One CGIAR’s mission of delivering science and innovation that advance transformation of food, land and water systems in a climate crisis.
Throughout 2020, COVID-19 and global conflicts have put an almost impossible pressure on already overwhelmed agricultural production, smallholders’ livelihoods and global supply chains. As with any system, it requires resilience for its long-term sustainability. “Of course, CGIAR’s central goal has been to anticipate the future needs of food production and areas of new resilience such as flood resilience or drought,” said Sachs.
“I would add [for its future strategy to also consider] resilience to social disruptions and disruptions to global supply chains, as we experience with COVID-19 but also with geopolitical tensions,” he advised.
Jeffery Sachs quoted at CIMMYT’s virtual event in December 2020. (Graphic: CIMMYT)
Keeping cereals in the equation
While diversification is important to human diets and the sustainability of agricultural production, we cannot afford to ignore the major cereals. Maize, rice and wheat provide a basic nutritional value, macro- and micronutrients that many people across the globe can afford and access.
Sachs asked CGIAR to look deeply at the question of poverty and food poverty, both in rural and urban areas. “CGIAR has more knowledge of how smallholders are living and how their lives are changing than any other research institution in the world. And I think your work can therefore give tremendous guidance on the overall fight against poverty and on the anticipation of increased urbanization in future years, as agriculture becomes more mechanized, and as smallholders or the children of today’s smallholders leave for urban areas in the coming generation.”
“CGIAR has more knowledge of how smallholders are living and how their lives are changing than any other research institution in the world. And I think your work can therefore give tremendous guidance on the overall fight against poverty.”
Sachs acknowledged the large and important task that CGIAR faces in its future. “All of this is incredibly difficult. […] I find the food system challenges to be the most complex of all of the sustainability challenges we face.”
He spoke of the task at hand with urgency and that there is no greater intellectual challenge than the transformation to sustainable agriculture: “The role of the CGIAR will be unique and indispensable in helping to guide us through those transformations. I think this is the indispensable time for the CGIAR to lay out its new research agenda for the next 50 years to be the one that helps us to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement.”
The COVID-19 global health crisis has disrupted food and agricultural systems around the world, affecting food production, supply chains, trade and markets, as well as people’s livelihoods and nutrition. Following an initial assessment in May 2020, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) joined the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and other CGIAR centers to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Bangladesh’s agri-food system.
The report shares critical reflections and lessons learned, as well as providing detailed quantitative and qualitative information on all disruption pathways and possible recovery strategies.
According to the research team, the major visible impact was the decline of food demand due to the disruption of value chain actors in the food market and income shortages, especially among low- and daily wage-earning populations. This reduced demand lead in turn to reduced prices for agricultural goods, particularly perishable food items like vegetables, livestock and fish products.
Additionally, constraints on the movement of labor led to a disruption in agricultural services, including machinery and extension services, while domestic and international trade disruptions created input shortages and lead to price volatilities which increased production costs. This increase, coupled with reductions in production and output prices, essentially wiped farmer profits.
A farmer takes maize grain to a local reserve in Bangladesh. (Photo: Fahad Kaizer/FAO)
Building back a better food system
The latest report was launched at the same time as the CGIAR COVID-19 Hub in Bangladesh, which aims to build local resilience to the effects of the pandemic and support government-led recovery initiatives. At a panel discussion presenting the results of the assessment, researchers emphasized the importance of social safety net mechanisms and food demand creation, as well as the need for strong monitoring of food systems to ensure continued availability and affordability, and early detection of any critical issues.
The discussion centered on the need for public access to trustworthy information in order to raise awareness and instill confidence in the food they consume. One key recommendation which emerged is facilitating the digitalization of farming, which looks to re-connect farmers and consumers and build the food system back better. The accelerated development of digital platforms connecting farmers to markets with contactless delivery systems can ensure the safer flow of inputs and outputs while generating a higher share of consumer money for farmers. There is also a need to explore green growth strategies for reducing food waste — the creation and distribution of improved food storage systems, for instance — and circular nutrient initiatives to better utilize food waste as feed and bio manure.
A digital transformation is changing the face of international research for development and agri-food systems worldwide. This was the key takeaway from the 4th annual CGIAR Big Data in Agriculture Convention held virtually last month.
“In many countries, farmers are using data to learn about market trends and weather predictions,” said Martin Kropff, director general of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), in a video address to convention participants. “But many still do not have access to everything that big data offers, and that is where CIMMYT and partners come in.”
As a member of CGIAR, CIMMYT is committed to ensuring that farmers around the world get access to data-driven solutions and information, while at the same time ensuring that the data generated by farmers, researchers and others is used ethically.
According to CGIAR experts and partner organizations, there are four key areas with the potential to transform agriculture in the next 10 years: data, artificial intelligence (AI), digital services and sector intelligence.
Key interventions will involve enabling open data and responsible data use, developing responsible AI, enabling and validating bundled digital services for food systems, and building trust in technology and big data — many of which CIMMYT has been working on already.
Harnessing data and data analytics
Led by CIMMYT, the CGIAR Excellence in Breeding (EiB) team have been developing the Enterprise Breeding System (EBS) — a single data management software solution for global breeding programs. The software aims to provide a solution to manage data across the entire breeding data workflow — from experiment creation to analytics — all in a single user-friendly dashboard.
CIMMYT and partners have also made significant breakthroughs in crop modelling to better understand crop performance and yield gaps, optimize planting dates and irrigation systems, and improve predictions of pest outbreaks. The Community of Practice (CoP) on Crop Modeling, a CGIAR initiative led by CIMMYT Crop Physiologist Matthew Reynolds, aims to foster collaboration and improve the collection of open access, easy-to-use data available for crop modelling.
The CIMMYT-led Community of Practice (CoP) on Socio-Economic Data continues to work at the forefront of making messy socio-economic data interoperable to address urgent and pressing global development issues in agri-food systems. Data interoperability, one of the foundational components of the FAIR data standards supported by CGIAR, addresses the ability of systems and services that create, exchange and consume data to have clear, shared expectations for its content, context and meaning. In the wake of COVID-19, the world witnessed the need for better data interoperability to understand what is happening in global food systems, and the CoP actively supports that process.
The MARPLE team carries out rapid analysis using the diagnostic kit in Ethiopia. (Photo: JIC)
Improving data use and supporting digital transformation
In Ethiopia, the MARPLE (Mobile And Real-time PLant disEase) diagnostic kit — developed by CIMMYT, the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) and the John Innes Centre (JIC) — has helped researchers, local governments and farmers to rapidly detect diseases like wheat rust in the field. The suitcase-sized kit cuts down the time it takes to detect this disease from months to just 48 hours.
In collaboration with research and meteorological organizations including Wageningen University and the European Space Agency (ESA), CIMMYT researchers have also been developing practical applications for satellite-sourced weather data. Crop scientists have been using this data to analyze maize and wheat cropping systems on a larger scale and create more precise crop models to predict the tolerance of crop varieties to stresses like drought and heatwaves. The aim is to share the climate and weather data available on an open access, user-friendly database.
Through the AgriFoodTrust platform — a new testing and learning platform for digital trust and transparency technologies – CIMMYT researchers have been experimenting with technologies like blockchain to tackle issues such as food safety, traceability, sustainability, and adulterated and counterfeit fertilizers and seeds. Findings will be used to build capacity on all aspects of the technologies and their application to ensure this they are inclusive and usable.
In Mexico, CIMMYT and partners have developed an application which offers tailored recommendations to help individual farmers deal with crop production challenges sustainably. The AgroTutor app offers farmers free information on historic yield potential, local benchmarks, recommended agricultural practices, commodity price forecasting and more.
Stepping up to the challenge
As the world becomes increasingly digital, harnessing the full potential of digital technologies is a huge area of opportunity for the agricultural research for development community, but one that is currently lacking clear leadership. As a global organization already working on global problems, it’s time for the CGIAR network to step up to the challenge. Carrying a legacy of agronomic research, agricultural extension, and research into adoption of technologies and innovations, CGIAR has an opportunity to become a leader in the digital transformation of agriculture.
Currently, the CGIAR System is coming together as One CGIAR. This transformation process is a dynamic reformulation of CGIAR’s partnerships, knowledge, assets, and global presence, aiming for greater integration and impact in the face of the interdependent challenges facing today’s world.
“One CGIAR’s role in supporting digitalization is both to improve research driven by data and data analytics, but also to foster the digitalization of agriculture in low and lower-middle income countries,” said CIMMYT Economist Gideon Kruseman at a session on Exploring CGIAR Digital Strategy at last month’s Big Data convention.
“One CGIAR — with its neutral stance and its focus on global public goods — can act as an honest broker between different stakeholders in the digital ecosystem.”
Cover photo: A researcher demonstrates the use of the AgroTutor app on a mobile phone in Mexico. (Photo: Francisco Alarcón/CIMMYT)
The AgriFoodTrust platform is gaining traction in its quest to bring inclusive and usable trust and transparency technologies to the agri-food sector according to platform co-founder and International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) Economist Gideon Kruseman.
Since its launch in late February, researchers from the platform have been experimenting with technologies like blockchain to tackle issues such as food safety, traceability, sustainability, and adulterated and counterfeit fertilizers and seeds.
Experts from one of the platform’s leading partners, The New Fork, recently teamed up with HarvestPlus and El-Kanis and Partners to investigate solutions to the problem of counterfeit biofortified seeds in Nigeria. They will work together on a public open blockchain to verify biofortified seeds, so that farmers know that the seeds they are buying are authentic. Building on the concept published in one of the Community of Practice on Socio-economic Data reports, the team formulated a project to pilot the idea.
The project is a finalist in the INSPIRE challenge, a CGIAR initiative to leverage the global food security expertise of CGIAR with expert industry partners to link digital technologies to impact in developing economies.
Finalists in the challenge will come together to pitch their projects during a session at the CGIAR Big Data in Agriculture Convention, a free virtual event taking place Oct 21 – 23. Registration for the convention is still open.
The convention will also bring together experts from the AgriFoodTrust platform to discuss transparency, accountability and sustainability in food systems using digital technologies like blockchain in a pre-recorded session on October 21 at 12:15 UTC. The session will provide an introduction to the platform and its philosophy, as well as contributions from platform stakeholders and partners such as The New Fork, GIZ, the organizing committee of Strike Two, AgUnity, the Carbon Drawn Initiative, Bluenumber, Scantrust and blockchain-for-good enthusiasts like Chris Addison and Eloise Stancioff.
Key stakeholders, interested researchers and organizations will meet virtually in a pre-convention event to discuss how to accelerate the use of digital trust and transparency technologies through the sharing of knowledge and capacity development. Participation in this event requires registration.
Experimental harvest of orange maize biofortified with provitamin A in Zambia. (Photo: CIMMYT)
Building a more transparent food sector though blockchain
Blockchain is a decentralized, digital ledger for keeping records. Digital information, or blocks, is stored in a public database, or chain, and shared with users. These blocks can be accessed by users in real time, and any alterations made to this information can be seen by users. The aim is to reduce risk, eliminate fraud and bring transparency to digital assets.
The AgriFoodTrust platform teams up researchers from CGIAR centers with academia, private sector agri-food companies, tech start-ups and development practitioners to experiment with blockchain and related trust technologies in the agri-food sector. The group is also testing different business models and partnerships with a mission to create a reliable knowledge base and share their findings.
Findings on the new platform will be used to build capacity on all aspects of the technologies and their application to ensure they are inclusive and usable.
Researchers hope that solutions like QR codes — a type of matrix barcode that can be scanned by smartphones — can be used to tackle challenges like preventing the sale of counterfeit seeds and adulterated fertilizer to farmers. Other uses include ensuring food traceability and sustainability, and monitoring and improving the implementation of performance of international agreements related to agriculture.
The technology could even be applied to prevent farmers from burning crop residues — a major cause of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions in India — by offering credits or tokens to farmers who do not engage in such practices, said Kruseman.
Much like in high-end coffee products, where customers willingly pay more for a guarantee of high quality, tokenization and digital trust technologies could allow customers of wheat flour products in India to donate extra for a certification that no crop residues were burned by the farmer.
The burning of crop residue, or stubble, across millions of hectares of cropland between planting seasons is a visible contributor to air pollution in both rural and urban areas of India. (Photo: Dakshinamurthy Vedachalam/CIMMYT)
By 2050, farmers will need to grow enough food to feed 10 billion people, using less land and fewer resources. Their job will be made even more difficult thanks to the challenges of climate change. Achieving a more inclusive, resilient and sustainable food system is needed now more than ever. It is hoped that digital trust technologies can help us respond, manage or avert crises in the future.
For more information on the INSPIRE challenge and the CGIAR Big Data in Agriculture Convention and how to attend this free virtual event, visit the event website.
As the calendar turns to October 16, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) celebrates World Food Day. This year’s theme is “Grow, Nourish, Sustain. Together.”
The COVID-19 global health crisis has been a time to reflect on things we truly cherish and our most basic needs. These uncertain times have made many of us rekindle our appreciation for a thing that some take for granted and many go without: food.
Food is the essence of life and the bedrock of our cultures and communities. Preserving access to safe and nutritious food is and will continue to be an essential part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly for poor and vulnerable communities, who are hit hardest by the pandemic and resulting economic shocks.
In a moment like this, it is more important than ever to recognize the need to support farmers and workers throughout the food system, who make sure that food makes its way from farm to fork.
Sustainable food systems
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), over 2 billion people do not have regular access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food. The global population is expected to reach almost 10 billion by 2050.
Our future food systems need to provide affordable and healthy diets for all, and decent livelihoods for food system workers, while preserving natural resources and biodiversity and tackling challenges such as climate change.
Countries, the private sector and civil society need to make sure that our food systems grow a variety of food to nourish a growing population and sustain the planet, together.
This year, for World Food Day, we bring you three stories about CIMMYT’s work to produce nutritious food in a sustainable way.
Cereals offer greater health and nutrition benefits than commonly acknowledged, despite often being considered ‘nutrient-poor’, say scientists. Read more.
Breaking Ground: Isaiah Nyagumbo advances climate-smart technologies to improve smallholder farming systems
Systems agronomist transforms farmers’ livelihoods through improved crop performance and soil health, promoting sustainable techniques that mitigate climate change effects. Read more.
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The COVID-19 crisis is highlighting many fragilities in contemporary food systems. But the pandemic has also created opportunities for local organizations and technologies to quickly mitigate these fragilities while showcasing the resilience, innovation and adaptation of African food and agricultural systems.
African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) panel discussed solutions to food security challenges.
Not only is it the origin of maize – one of CIMMYT’s focus crops – it also inspired the birth of its headquarters, which has served as the institute’s mothership since its establishment in 1966.
CIMMYT’s crop-breeding research begins with its genebank, a remarkable living catalog of genetic diversity comprising over 28,000 unique seed collections of maize and over 150,000 of wheat. The genebank was established at CIMMYT’s headquarters in 1986 and to date is the world’s largest and most diverse collection of maize and wheat. Like clockwork, every year, more than 1,500 maize and wheat seed shipments leave Mexico to reach as many as 800 recipients in over 100 countries.
In one way or another, the world’s maize and wheat have a link back to Mexico: be it through pest-resistance trials in the Agua Fria or Tlaltizapan hub or heat-resilient wheat trials in the scorching fields of Obregon. The country’s diverse ecosystems which allowed for Norman Borlaug’s shuttle breeding in the 1940s remain instrumental for today’s researchers’ work to develop innovative crops and sustainable farming systems worldwide.
Field worker bagging maize ears at CIMMYT’s Agua Fría experimental station. (Photo: CIMMYT/Alfonso Cortés)
CIMMYT has been working hand in hand with Mexico’s Secretariat of Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER) on MasAgro, a project that promotes the sustainable production of maize and wheat in Mexico.
In the conversation below, Martin Kropff, Director General of CIMMYT, and Bram Govaerts, CIMMYT Representative for the Americas and Director of the Integrated Development Program, explore topics such as Mexico’s food security and agriculture while COVID-19 disrupts the nation’s status quo.
Has the COVID-19 pandemic exposed any vulnerabilities in Mexican food security?
Kropff: Albeit Mexico produces a lot of food – in fact, I believe that it currently ranks 11th in food production globally – it still imports food from other countries, particularly staples such as maize, wheat and rice from the U.S. The current pandemic poses a threat to open trade, and Mexico could also be affected by trade restrictions that other countries impose to protect their people and internal markets from food shortages.
Govaerts: At the same time, the pandemic is reducing economic activities everywhere to minimum levels. This poses a threat to food production given that farmers and agricultural workers in Mexico, and most of the northern hemisphere, are just about to begin the growing spring/summer season. Mexico’s fields need to be prepared for sowing and farmers need certainty as they take risks by investing today for a harvest that will come within several months.
How is CIMMYT helping to reduce these vulnerabilities?
Govaerts: CIMMYT is working with Mexico’s Agriculture Department (SADER) and the private and social sector to address these threats.
Kropff: In fact, we see that Mexico is already answering to a CIMMYT-endorsed Call to Action For World Leaders, which was published on the Food and Land Use Coalition website. This call to action urges countries to implement three key measures to avert a global food crisis that could increase the number of people suffering from chronic hunger by millions: keep the supply of food flowing across the world; scale support to the most vulnerable; and invest in sustainable, resilient food systems.
Seed collection during the harvest at CIMMYT’s experimental station located in Cuidad Obregón, Sonora. (Photo: CIMMYT/Peter Lowe)
What is the role of CIMMYT’s collaboration with Mexican government bodies in this process?
Govaerts: In the fields there is potential to respond and avoid that today’s health crisis becomes tomorrow’s food crisis. CIMMYT is working with SADER and Mexico’s National Research System (INIFAP) to contribute to a stable supply of basic grains grown sustainably in Mexico by offering technical advice to the more than 300,000 farmers that participate in MasAgro, CIMMYT’s bilateral collaboration project with Mexico for sustainable maize and wheat production.
Currently, MasAgro technicians and extension agents are working with smallholder farmers in the center and south of the country to prepare soils for sowing, advising on optimal sowing densities and use of high-yielding improved varieties, agro-ecological pest management, fertilization, irrigation, among other activities that are essential to begin the crop production cycle in time.
Mexico and CIMMYT are also working with the agri-food sector to build farmers’ capacities to increase grain production sustainably and to sell the surplus to local and multi-national agri-food companies in Mexico. This is part of wider country plans which are called Maize for Mexico and Wheat for Mexico.
Kropff: These plans are very much in line with the call for governments to work with the philanthropic and private sectors to strengthen and scale out targeted food programs by linking them to foods that promote health and sustainable production. Currently we work with Nestlé, The Kellogg Company, Grupo Bimbo, and Walmart Foundation, among others, to create a pull from the market for sustainable agriculture for smallholder farmers. We call this sustainable sourcing.
How can we strengthen Mexico as a country of agricultural crops research and design activities?
Kropff: CIMMYT has been instrumental to public policy formulation in Mexico and has been positioned as one of Mexico’s most trusted partners over the past 10 years.
Govaerts: Exactly, and the numbers speak for themselves. As a result of the collaboration with more than 150 collaborators from the public, private and social sector, MasAgro has had a positive impact in the lives of more than 300 thousand farmers who have adopted conservation agriculture, improved seeds and sustainable farming technologies on more than 1 million hectares across Mexico.
Kropff: It would be great if Mexico continued investing in integrated development projects like MasAgro, and scaled out sustainable farming practices and technologies with innovative approaches like responsible local sourcing, which I mentioned just before while it promotes the replication of the MasAgro model in other countries.
The Rodríguez family, milpa farmers, in Cristóbal Colón, Campeche. (Photo: CIMMYT/Peter Lowe)
How can we strengthen farmer’s access to better crops and better farming techniques?
Kropff: It is imperative to CIMMYT to improve farmers’ economic opportunity. This cannot be done without essential ingredients such as access to markets, capacity development, technology, and inputs like seeds and fertilizer. And most importantly, better crops and farming technologies are worthless without the national agricultural research systems’ buy in and trust.
Govaerts: This is very much at the heart of what we do together with maize farmers in Mexico in MasAgro. CIMMYT breeds maize hybrids with conventional technologies and improves native maize seed in collaborative projects with farmers. Then this improved maize seed is tested in collaboration with the local seed sector that, in turn, commercializes the best adapted materials in Mexico’s growing regions. These seed companies are small and medium enterprises that generate economic development in the center and south of the country.
Kropff: Similarly, in a project that started in 2019 in eastern and southern Africa, we reach farmers in Malawi, and soon in Rwanda and Tanzania, with our improved seeds through small seed companies which play the key role of ‘connector’ in intricate and complicated markets which often are ignored by large seed companies. Then, CIMMYT researchers undertake varietal trials and track genetic gains in farmers’ fields and share the findings with the broader agricultural community.
What changes can we expect in the nation’s food supply chain management after COVID-19?
Kropff: All crises bring challenges and opportunities. I believe that Mexico could take this opportunity to make its supply and value chains more integrated, resilient and flexible.
Govaerts: Mexico can become the leader of innovation that integrates traditional and scientific knowledge.
What role does CIMMYT want to play in the future?
Kropff: I see CIMMYT working even closer to the farming communities but especially along the whole value chain with science and data towards improved decision-making.
Govaerts: CIMMYT can be a catalyst of integrated programs. We want to keep discovering and helping to implement new solutions for the world’s poor and food insecure and work toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
A new testing and learning platform for digital trust and transparency technologies — such as blockchain — in agri-food systems was launched at the Strike Two Summit in late February.
AgriFoodTrust debuted at the summit which brought together key agri-food system players to discuss how blockchain and related technologies can contribute to food safety, quality and sustainability, said Gideon Kruseman, an economist with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), who co-founded the platform.
“Blockchain is often associated with the digital security that led to cryptocurrencies. However, growing research is providing evidence on its unique potential to bring greater efficiency, transparency and traceability to the exchange of value and information in the agriculture sector,” said Kruseman.
“Many of the wicked problems and seemingly insuperable challenges facing dynamic, complex agri-food system value chains, especially in low and middle-income countries, boil down to a lack of trust, transparency and reliable governance structures,” said the researcher who also leads the Socio-Economic Data Community of Practice of the CGIAR Platform for Big Data inAgriculture.
Future Food panelist speak at the Strike Two Summit in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. (Photo: The New Fork)
A blockchain is a ledger that is almost impossible to forge. It can be described as a data structure that holds transactional records and ensures security, transparency and decentralization. Technology may be at the foundation of the solutions, but technology is the easy part; solving the softer side has proven to be a seemingly insuperable challenge over the past decades, Kruseman explained.
Digital trust and transparency technologies can be used to improve governance structures and limit corruption in agri-food systems in low and middle income countries, said Marieke de Ruyter de Wildt, co-founder of AgriFoodTrust.
“This new generation of decentralized technologies is, in essence, improving governance structures. People often think it is about technology, but it’s not. It is about people and how we organize things.”
“These technologies are neutral, immutable and censorship resistant. You can mimic this if you think about rules without a ruler. Just imagine what opportunities arise when a system is incorruptible,” said de Ruyter de Wildt.
It is hoped, accessible via QR codes, for example, that the technology can be used to tackle challenges, such as preventing the sale of counterfeit seeds to smallholder farmers, ensuring the nutritional value of biofortified crop varieties and promoting the uptake of sustainable agricultural principles whilst improving the implementation and monitoring of international agreements related to agriculture.
“This is where the platform comes in as a knowledge base. The AgriFoodTrust platform sees researchers from CGIAR Centers and academia, such as Wageningen University, experiment with these technologies on top of other solutions, business models and partnerships to determine what works, how, when and for whom, in order to share that information,” Kruseman added.
Findings on the new platform will be used to build capacity on all aspects of the technologies and their application to ensure this technology is inclusive and usable.
Along with Kruseman, AgriFoodTrust co-founders include digital agriculture experts de Ruyter de Wildt, the Founder and CEO of The New Fork, and Chris Addison, Senior Coordinator of Data for Agriculture at CTA. Seed funding for the platform has been raised through CTA, the CGIAR Platform for Big Data in Agriculture and the CGIAR Programs on MAIZE and WHEAT.
“AgriFoodTrust sets out to accelerate understanding about these technologies and fundamentally make food systems more integer and resilient,” explained de Ruyter de Wildt.
By 2050, farmers will need to grow enough diverse and nutritious food to feed 10 billion people on less land using less resources while faced with the challenges of a changing climate. This has led researchers to push for agricultural technologies that engender more inclusive, sustainable food systems. It is hoped that increased trust and transparency technologies can help overcome counterproductive incentives, poor governance structures, prevailing institutional arrangements and market failures.
Aparna Das of CIMMYT, Arun Baral of Harvest Plus and Bill Rustrick of the Clinton Development Initiative discuss a project in Malawi strengthening the resilience of smallholder farming communities.
A new testing and learning platform for digital trust and transparency technologies — such as blockchain — in 
