How does CIMMYT’s improved maize get to the farmer?
CIMMYT is happy to announce five new, improved tropical maize hybrids that are now available for uptake by public and private sector partners, especially those interested in marketing or disseminating hybrid maize seed across South Asia and similar agro-ecologies in other regions. NARES and seed companies are hereby invited to apply for licenses to pursue national release, scale-up seed production, and deliver these maize hybrids to farming communities.
The deadline to submit applications to be considered during the first round of allocations is 5 May 2023. Applications received after that deadline will be considered during subsequent rounds of product allocations.
The newly available CIMMYT maize hybrids were identified through rigorous, years-long trialing and a stage-gate advancement process which culminated in the 2021/22 CIMMYT-Asia Maize Regional On-Farm (Stage 5) Trials On-Farm Trials. The products were found to meet the stringent performance and farmer acceptance criteria for CIMMYT’s breeding pipelines that are designed to generate products tailored in particular for smallholder farmers in stress-prone agroecologies of South Asia.
How does CIMMYT’s improved maize get to the farmer?
CIMMYT is happy to announce seven new, improved tropical maize hybrids that are now available for uptake by public and private sector partners, especially those interested in marketing or disseminating hybrid maize seed across southern Africa and similar agro-ecologies in other regions. NARES and seed companies are hereby invited to apply for licenses to pursue national release, scale-up seed production, and deliver these maize hybrids to farming communities.
The deadline to submit applications to be considered during the first round of allocations is 10 January 2023. Applications received after that deadline will be considered during subsequent rounds of product allocations.
The newly available CIMMYT maize hybrids were identified through rigorous, years-long trialing and a stage-gate advancement process which culminated in the 2021/22 Southern Africa Stage 5 Regional On-Farm Trials. The products were found to meet the stringent performance and farmer acceptance criteria for CIMMYT’s breeding pipelines that are designed to generate products tailored in particular for smallholder farmers in stress-prone agroecologies of southern Africa.
How does CIMMYT’s improved maize get to the farmer?
CIMMYT is happy to announce four new, improved tropical maize hybrids that are now available for uptake by public and private sector partners, especially those interested in marketing or disseminating hybrid maize seed across Latin America and similar agro-ecological zones. Public- and private-sector organizations are hereby invited to apply for licenses to pursue national release and /or scale-up seed production and deliver these maize hybrids to farming communities.
The deadline to submit applications to be considered during the first round of allocations is 25 November 2022. Applications received after that deadline will be considered during subsequent rounds of product allocations.
The newly available CIMMYT maize hybrids, CIM20LAPP1C-9, CIM20LAPP1C-10, CIM20LAPP1A-11 and CIM20LAPP1A-12, were identified through rigorous trialing and a stage-gate advancement process which culminated in the 2020 and 2021 CIMMYT Latin America Stage 4 and Stage 5 Trials. The products were found to meet the stringent performance criteria for CIMMYT’s LA-PP1A and LA-PP1C breeding pipelines. While there is variation between different products coming from the same pipeline, the LA-PP1A and LA-PP1C pipelines are designed around the target product profiles described below:
Product Profile
Basic traits
Nice-to-have / Emerging traits
Target agroecologies
LatAM-PP1A
(Tropical Lowland White)
Intermediate maturing, white, high yielding, drought tolerant, and resistant to TSC, MLB, and ear rots
GLS, Fusarium Stalk Rot
Latin-American lowland tropics and similar agroecologies.
LatAM-PP1C
(Tropical Lowland Yellow)
Intermediate maturing, yellow, high yielding, drought tolerant, and resistant to MLB and ear rots
GLS, Fusarium Stalk Rot
Latin-American lowland tropics and similar agroecologies.
In Mexico there is an indigenous poem that says, “We are grains of maize from the same cob; we are one root of the same path.” So, it is not surprising that the path of Alicia Medina Hoyos, a researcher with the National Maize Research Program at El Instituto Nacional de Innovación Agraria (INIA), began life in a rural community in Cupisnique, Cajamarca, Peru, at 1,800 meters above sea level.
At an early age, she realized the importance of maize as a feature of identity. This prompted her to dedicate her life to contribute to food security through research on starchy maize, soft maize types used for human consumption with 80% starch in their composition.
Medina studied Agronomy at the National University of Cajamarca, where her thesis brought her into contact with Luis Narro, a Peruvian researcher linked to the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), which she has been associated with ever since.
“This permanent contact has been key to strengthening my capacities to actively participate in the co-creation of better opportunities for producers in Peru and Latin America,” said Medina. Her connection with CIMMYT has helped her to maintain an enriching exchange of knowledge and experiences with researchers such as Terry Molnar, a specialist in native maize, as well as with the more than 130 colleagues who make up the Latin American Maize Network.
It has also provided opportunities to showcase Peruvian agricultural research. In 2022, Peru hosted the XXIV Latin American Maize Meeting, an event jointly organized by CIMMYT and INIA every two years. Medina explained, “The event is a great opportunity to show Cajamarca, producers, organizations, to highlight the best we have, and to promote purple maize.”
Award-winning research
On International Women’s Day in 2019, Medina received an award from the College of Engineers of Peru for the effort, dedicated work, and contribution of engineering to the service of society.
When asked what it meant to receive this award, Medina said, “Research in starchy maize and, in recent years, in purple maize, has taken me to Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia and Japan, and has given me the satisfaction of receiving awards that motivate me to continue putting research at the service of producers.”
This is without losing sight of the other valuable awards that Medina has received: the Personage of the Bicentennial, awarded in 2021 by the Provincial Municipality of Contumazá, Peru; the compass that Chile gave her in 2021 as recipient of the Strait of Magellan Award for Innovation and Exploration with Global Impact; and the SUMMUM Research Award given by the Summum Awards Advisory Committee in 2019.
Purple maize holds many health benefits due to its high content of anthocyanins and antioxidants. (Photo: Alicia Medina Hoyos/INIA)
Why is purple maize so important?
Purple maize comes from a breed called kulli. The team of researchers led by Medina — who obtained the variety — brought a population of purple maize from Huaraz, Peru, and crossed it with another from Cajamarca. Ten years of breeding gave rise to the INIA 601 maize, characterized by its high yield and high content of anthocyanins and antioxidants that are beneficial to health, cancer prevention, and lowering high blood pressure and cholesterol.
“In 2011 I had the opportunity to go to Japan, followed by working with a team of Japanese experts in Cajamarca,” explained Medina. “There, we started a project that gave more importance to purple maize, not for its production but for its color and therefore anthocyanin content. We saw the characteristic of the color in the husk. In 2013, we determined the amount of anthocyanin in this variety and it turned out that it was higher in the husk than in the cob. That gave us the option to market both parts.”
Medina explains how teamwork with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) laid the foundations so that today, 500 Peruvian producers “who see that there are profits, are convinced, by listening to their testimonies, in dissemination and training events” grow the maize in 12 of the 13 provinces that make up Cajamarca and market a kilo of cob and purple maize bract at $5 USD each.
There is currently high demand for the product in grain, grain flour, whole, dried, chopped and chopped dried forms; transnational companies based in Lima acquire the purple maize to extract the pigment and anthocyanin, and export it to the United States, Japan and Spain. “In fact, there are companies that produce whiskey with purple maize flour from Cajamarca,” Medina added.
In October 2021, a new agricultural campaign began in the Peruvian fields and Medina continues to promote agriculture based on the dream of seeing purple maize become a flagship product of the country, while becoming the engine of agribusiness in the region of Cajamarca, so that producers benefit in a better way, have more income and see the real magnitude of the grain they grow every day.
Cover photo: Medina assesses purple maize in Peru, which she introduced to the country. (Photo: Alicia Medina Hoyos/INIA)
Maize, along with wheat and rice, provides around 30% of food calories to more than 4.5 billion people in 94 developing countries. These statistics declare that maize is an important crop to ensure food and nutritional security for poor communities in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Limited diversification in dietary food and higher per capita maize consumption indicates that a great proportion of the population in developing countries are lacking in essential nutrients like micronutrients and amino acids.
Rigorous efforts by International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) maize breeder Surinder K. Vasal and cereal chemist Evangelina Villegas in the early 1980s led to the development of an improved maize kernel with higher yield and vitreous appearance by combining the opaque-2 and genetic modifier systems by using backcrossing and recurrent selection. These efforts led to development of an improved maize known as quality protein maize (QPM).
QPM ensures the nutritional security of maize dependent communities. It is described as nutritionally superior maize with high lysine, tryptophan and leucine contents along with high biological value and high protein intake. QPM also has higher contents of non-zein protein (albumin, globulin and glutelin fractions), which are rich in lysine and tryptophan.
The development of QPM was comprised of a series of efforts across many decades to develop promising varieties. CIMMYT described the term QPM for maize genotypes with improved lysine and tryptophan contents and hard endosperm texture. Now, QPM is referred to maize genotypes with homozygous o2 alleles, increased lysine and tryptophan contents, and without harboring the negative pleiotropic effects of soft endosperm.
In recent years, CIMMYT has developed several QPM varieties across many countries with different genetic backgrounds. However, to fast track the deployment of QPM at scale, it needs a vibrant seed system in place and a viable business model which ensures an active engagement of seed producers, farmers and consumers.
This review article discusses the importance and timeline of various events in QPM development and dissemination, genetic basis and systems, breeding strategies, challenges and potential opportunities for QPM adoption. “We can consider the article as a compendium of QPM where it addresses historical background and scientific breakthroughs which will be useful to researchers, students and others who are looking for a comprehensive information on QPM,” said AbduRahman Beshir, CIMMYT’s senior scientist and maize seed systems specialist for Asia, who co-authored the publication.
A new special issue on gender research in agriculture highlights nine influential papers published in the past three years on gender research on crop systems including maize.
The virtual special issue, published earlier this month in Outlook on Agriculture, features work by International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) scientists on gender inclusivity in maize systems in Africa and South Asia.
In the Global South, women contribute substantial labor to agriculture but continue to face barriers in accessing agricultural resources, tools and technologies and making decisions on farms.
Combatting gender inequality is crucial for increasing agricultural productivity and reducing global hunger and poverty and should be a goal in and of itself. Evidence suggests that if women in the Global South had access to the same productive resources as men, farm yields could rise by up to 30 percent, increasing total agricultural output by up to 4 percent and decreasing the number of hungry people around the world by up to 17 percent.
The latest virtual special issue includes a review of existing research by CIMMYT gender experts, exploring issues and options in supporting gender inclusivity through maize breeding and the current evidence of differences in male and female farmers’ preferences for maize traits and varieties. The team also identified key research priorities to encourage more gender-intentional maize breeding, including innovative methods to assess farmer preferences and increased focus in intrahousehold decision-making dynamics.
The issue also features a study by CIMMYT and Rothamsted Research researchers on differences in preferred maize traits and farming practices among female and male farmers in southern Africa. The team found that female plot managers and household heads were more likely to use different maize varieties and several different farming practices to male plot managers and household heads. Incorporating farming practices used by female farmers into selection by maize breeding teams would provide an immediate entry point for gender-intentionality.
Also included is a recent paper by CIMMYT gender researchers which outlines the evidence base for wheat trait preferences and uptake of new farming technologies among male and female smallholder farmers in Ethiopia and India. The team highlight the need for wheat improvement programs in Ethiopia and India to include more gender-sensitive technology development, evaluation and dissemination, covering gender differences in wheat trait preferences, technology adoption and associated decision-making and land-use changes, as well as economic and nutritional benefits.
In a study carried out in the Eastern Gangetic Plains of South Asia, CIMMYT scientists investigated how changes in weed management practices to zero tillage – a method which minimizes soil disturbance – affect gender roles. The team found that switching to zero tillage did not increase the burden of roles and responsibilities to women and saved households valuable time on the farm. The scientists also found that both women and men’s knowledge of weed management practices were balanced, showing that zero tillage has potential as a gender inclusive farming practice for agricultural development.
Also featured in the special issue is a study by CIMMYT experts investigating gender relations across the maize value chain in rural Mozambique. The team found that men were mostly responsible for marketing maize and making decisions at both the farm level and higher levels of the value chain. The researchers also found that cultural restrictions and gender differences in accessing transport excluded women from participating in markets.
Finally, the collection features a study authored by researchers from Tribhuvan University, Nepal and CIMMYT exploring the interaction between labour outmigration, changing gender roles and their effects on maize systems in rural Nepal. The scientists found that the remittance incomes sent home by migrants and raising farm animals increased maize yields. They further found that when women spent more time doing household chores, rearing farm animals and engaging in community activities, maize yields suffered, although any losses were offset by remittance incomes.
In analysis of why the Ukraine crisis is heavily impacting Africa, the report’s introduction from Bill Gates delves into reasons behind reliance on crop imports. Most farmers in Africa are smallholders with small plots of land and have limited capacity to use fertilizers or have access to irrigation. This means that any shock to the food system, such as the disruption to the global supply chain caused by the Ukraine conflict, hugely impacts the yield levels, threatening food and nutritional security.
Conflict is not the only risk to food systems in Africa. Climate change is the most prominent challenge that the continent’s smallholder farmers continue to face.
Developed through support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, DroughtTego, a CIMMYT-derived hybrid maize with increased resistance to hotter, drier climates, produces an average of 66% more grain per acre in Kenya. Scaled through public-private partnerships, DroughtTego seeds can increase farmer income by providing more than enough to feed a family of six for an entire year, enabling them to invest the additional money in sending their children to school or building new homes.
CIMMYT and CGIAR scientists have also been using predictive modeling to speed up plant breeding and develop new varieties that can perform well even in drought stress-prone environments of Africa. Artificial intelligence helps in processing the genomic information of crops alongside the environmental data, such as soil samples and satellite imagery. The results create a vision of what farms will need to look like in the future, enabling scientists to determine which type of crop varieties can better succeed in specific locations.
Predictive epidemiological modeling can highlight where plant diseases, such as wheat rust, may possibly spread. An early warning system, developed by a partnership between CIMMYT, the University of Cambridge, the UK Met Office, the Ethiopian Agricultural Research Institute (EIAR), the Agricultural Transformation Institute (ATI) and the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture, successfully alerted farmers in Ethiopia to an outbreak of the disease so that they could take preventive measures. The resulting outcome was the country’s largest wheat harvest ever recorded, instead of a devastating rust epidemic.
A LinkedIn post from Bill Gates also emphasized CIMMYT’s research, asking which crop accounts for around 30% of calorie intake for people in sub-Saharan Africa — the answer being “maize”.
Inclusion in this report highlights the global impact of CIMMYT’s work on farmers and world food systems, which is only possible through successful partnerships with organizations like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Cover photo: A farmer in Zaka District, Zimbabwe, experiences a drought that could affect crop yields. (Photo: Johnson Siamachira/CIMMYT)
New improved maize varieties may fall short in meeting the needs of women and the poorest of farmers – a concern that remains a focus of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the wider CGIAR.
Lower than expected adoption rates for some new maize varieties suggest that innovative strategies in breeding and seed delivery are likely needed. There is broad recognition of the need to get new germplasm from the CGIAR and its partners into the fields of more farmers in less time.
CIMMYT research on markets and social inclusion focuses on understanding two related dynamics: the unique preferences, needs and circumstances faced by women and the poorest farmers, and the implications these carry for how breeding programs and seed companies design and market new varieties.
Taking stock of knowledge and gaps in gender and maize breeding
Decades of research on maize preferences have sought to understand if and how men’s and women’s preferences differ. However, existing data provides unclear guidance to maize breeders on gender-relevant traits to prioritize in product profile design. The evidence suggests a lack of meaningful differences in what men and women are looking for in maize—yield, drought tolerance and early maturity—are high priorities almost across the board.
One reason for the similarity in preferences among women and men may relate to how we evaluate them, the authors argue. Preference studies that focus on evaluation of varieties’ agronomic and productivity-related traits may overlook critical components of farmers’ variety assessment and seed choice, including their household and farming context. Ultimately, they say, we need to explore new approaches to evaluating farmer demand for seed, considering new questions instead of continuing to look for gender-based differences in preferences.
A first step in that direction is to figure out how demand for maize seed differs among farmers according to their needs, priorities and resource limitations. Gender is definitely a part of that equation, but there’s much more to think about, like how maize fits into household food security and livelihoods, decision-making dynamics around maize production, and seed accessibility. New tools will be needed for understanding those and how decision-making around seed happens in real-world contexts.
Understanding how farmers make decisions on seed choice
The authors offer several practical suggestions for maize breeders and other researchers in this space:
First, explore tools that allow farmers to evaluate varieties in their household context. Large-scale farmer-managed on-farm trials have gained attention in the CGIAR as tools for more accurate assessment of farmer preferences. These approaches have several added advantages. They enable evaluation of variety performance under realistic management conditions—including under management practices used disproportionately by women, such as intercropping, which is typically excluded from larger researcher-managed trials. These approaches also enable farmer evaluation of maize varieties not only in terms of in-field performance and yield at harvest stage, but in terms of grain quality after harvest. This is particularly important for social inclusion, given women’s disproportionate attention to traits related to processing and consumption.
Second, move beyond gender-based preferences in evaluating seed demand. Gendered preferences matter, but they may not be the sole factor that determines a farmer’s choice of seed. We need to understand market segments for seed in relation to farmers’ aspirations, risk perceptions and tolerance, livelihood priorities, and household context. This also means exploring the intrahousehold gender dynamics of maize farming and seed choice to understand women’s roles in decision-making in maize production, processing, and consumption.
Finally, consider questions related to maize seed systems more broadly. Are maize seed systems capable of delivering gender-responsive and gender-intentional varieties to women and men? What are the barriers to wider uptake of new varieties aside from variety suitability? Innovative marketing and delivery mechanisms may be critical to realizing gains from more gender-intentional breeding.
With the transition to the One CGIAR, sharing tools and lessons learned across crops will be increasingly important. Researchers in the CGIAR community have developed new tools for gender-responsive and gender-intentional breeding. This includes through the Gender and Breeding Initiative, which has published the G+ tools to support gendered market segmentation and gender-intentional product profile development.
While learning from one another’s experiences will prove essential during the transition, recognizing that the gender dynamics of maize production may be very different from sweet potato production will also be key. Here, the new Market Intelligence & Product Profiles initiative and SeEdQUAL initiative on seed systems will both create new spaces for exploring these issues across crops.
For over a decade, the CGIAR Research Programs on Maize (MAIZE) and Wheat (WHEAT) have been at the forefront of research-for-development benefiting maize and wheat farmers in the Global South, especially those most vulnerable to the shocks of a changing climate.
From 2012 to 2021, MAIZE has focused on doubling maize productivity and increasing incomes and livelihood opportunities from sustainable maize-based farming systems. Through MAIZE, scientists released over 650 elite, high-yielding maize varieties stacked with climate adaptive, nutrition enhancing, and pest and disease resistant traits.
The WHEAT program has worked to improve sustainable production and incomes for wheat farmers, especially smallholders, through collaboration, cutting-edge science and field-level research. Jointly with partners, WHEAT scientists released 880 high-yielding, disease- and pest-resistant, climate-resilient and nutritious varieties in 59 countries over the life of the program.
To document and share this legacy, the MAIZE and WHEAT websites have been redesigned to highlight the accomplishments of the programs and to capture their impact across the five main CGIAR Impact Areas: nutrition, poverty, gender, climate and the environment.
We invite you to visit these visually rich, sites to view the global impact of MAIZE and WHEAT, and how this essential work will continue in the future.
CIMMYT’s relationship with Mexico is one of a kind: in addition to being the birthplace of the wheat innovations that led to the Green Revolution and the founding of CGIAR, Mexico is also where maize originated thousands of years ago, becoming an emblem of the country’s economy and identity.
Honoring this longstanding connection and celebrating Mexico’s key contribution to global wheat and maize production, Mexico City will host a photo exhibition from December 1, 2021, to January 15, 2022, in the Open Galleries Lateral, located on Paseo de la Reforma, one of city’s most iconic promenades.
Titled “Maize and Wheat Research in Focus: Celebrating a Decade of Research for Sustainable Agricultural Development Under the CGIAR Research Programs on Maize and Wheat,” the exhibition illustrates the impact of MAIZE and WHEAT over the last ten years. The selection of photographs documents the challenges faced by maize and wheat smallholders in different regions, and showcases innovative interventions made by national and regional stakeholders worldwide.
From pathbreaking breeding research on climate-smart varieties to helping farming families raise their incomes, the photos — taken by CGIAR photographers before the COVID-19 pandemic — capture both the breadth of the challenges facing our global agri-food systems and the spirit of innovation and cooperation to meet them head on.
Don’t miss the chance to visit the exhibition if you are in Mexico City!
The photo exhibition “Maize and Wheat Research in Focus: Celebrating a Decade of Research for Sustainable Agricultural Development Under the CGIAR Research Programs on Maize and Wheat” will be on display in Mexico City until January 15, 2022. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés/CIMMYT)
Nigeria’s National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) has approved the commercialization of TELA Maize seeds—a drought-tolerant and insect-protected variety aimed at enhancing food security in sub-Saharan Africa.
The TELA Maize Project in Nigeria is part of an international consortium coordinated by the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), and the National Agricultural Research Systems of seven countries, including Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Ridder’s smart technology is used by CIMMYT scientists to develop wheat and maize varieties that boost production, prevent crop disease and improve smallholder farmers’ livelihood.
A list of women leaders in STEM features Evangelina Villegas—a plant chemist at CIMMYT during its early days whose ground-breaking work on quality protein maize (QPM) helped combat malnutrition among developing communities worldwide.
An article in La Nación praises the work of a number of research institutions, including CIMMYT, for their use of science and technology to develop hybrid maize lines adapted to the needs of farmers, markets and consumers.
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) has released a set of 12 new maize lines adapted to the tropical environments targeted by CIMMYT and partner institutions.
Haploids — which are produced naturally in maize — were first identified in the crop about a century ago. Today they are used widely in different breeding programs, particularly in the development of doubled haploids, which are highly uniform, genetically pure and stable. Doubled-haploid technology has simplified logistics to make the maize breeding process more efficient and intuitive, facilitated studies at the molecular and genomic level, and increased genetic gains in different breeding programs.
In a recent review article, scientists from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) examine strategies for haploid induction and identification, chromosome doubling and production of doubled haploid seed through self-fertilization. They also discuss the potential applications and key challenges linked with doubled haploid technology in maize, and suggest future research directionsfor people involved in fast-track maize breeding, the seed industry, and academia.
Extensive studies of haploids and doubled haploids have increased our understanding of the genetic basis and mechanisms involved in haploid induction, the factors that affect haploid induction, different markers to identify putative haploids, and different chemicals agents that can be used for chromosome doubling.
The technology is useful because the resulting plants are free from different social issues and legal regulations associated with transgenic crops. It maximizes genetic gains in breeding programs, is one of the fastest tools available for developing large numbers of inbred lines quickly and reduces the cost of breeding programs.
“Deployment of doubled haploid technology is much needed for commercial hybrid maize breeding programs to make them more efficient and economical,” says article co-author Abdurahman Beshir, a maize seed systems specialist based in Nepal. “The technology is also useful to have accelerated varietal turnover and a higher maize seed replacement rate in different market segments.”
Many multinational seed companies have adopted doubled haploid technology for the wide-scale production of inbred lines. The development of novel techniques for haploid induction and the subsequent production of doubled haploid plants holds significant potential for the management of genetic resources, germplasm enhancement and the development of novel plant populations.Researchers at CIMMYT have also made significant efforts to help national breeding programs adopt this technology, especially in South Asia, where the organisation has shared haploid inducers with numerous partners in Pakistan.
But, while this technology can accelerate maize breeding, it still faces challenges at each step of doubled haploid line development and the authors argue there is a need to extensively explore the genetic potential of this technology to continue increasing the genetic gains associated with different breeding programs.
Cover image: A mixture ofdoubledhaploidmaizekernelsseen in close-up at CIMMYT’s Agua Fria experimental station in Mexico. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés/CIMMYT)
Read more new publications from CIMMYT researchers:
