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Tag: monitoring and evaluation

Because error has a price

Written by Alison Doody on . Posted in Publications.

A systematic review conducted by a team of scientists from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) has revealed that many farmers around the world incorrectly identify their crop varieties, with significant impacts on their farming practices, yields, profits, and research.

The review, published this month in Outlook on Agriculture, brings together information from 23 published studies to sketch crop variety misclassification among farmers, its determinants, and the implications of classification errors on the farm and in research.

“We found that seven out of ten farmers incorrectly identified the grown variety when they were asked to identify the variety by its specific name. When farmers were asked if the grown variety was either improved or local, three out of ten farmers made incorrect classifications,” said Michael Euler, first author of the study and agricultural resource economist at CIMMYT.

Whether farmers correctly identify crop varieties has a knock-on effect on their farming practices, which in turn affects their crop yields and income. This can bleed into research, impacting experiments and evaluation studies of agricultural technologies and methods. For example, scientists might assign treatment and control groups based on incorrect farmer variety classification, potentially leading to biased estimates and data discrepancies.

“Varietal misidentification can lead to improper agronomic management, forgone farm revenue, and seed system malfunctioning. From a monitoring and evaluation perspective, the potential presence of bias in estimates due to varietal misclassification is problematic as it may mask the true costs and benefits of seed technologies,” said Euler.

Immature wheat seeds. Ciudad Obregon, Mexico 2017. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)

The study is the first systematic review of the use of DNA fingerprinting – a method that uses molecular markers to identify crop varieties – to assess how accurate farmers are in identifying their varieties and the impacts this has on seed markets, crop performance, farm profits, and research.

“The use of DNA fingerprinting to identify crop varieties in farmers’ fields has emerged only recently. The review of existing literature, nonetheless, shows its potential to strengthen the functioning and effectiveness of seed markets, supply chains, and extension services,” said Vijesh Krishna, co-author of the study and senior scientist at CIMMYT.

The results of the review show that cases of farmers misidentifying varieties are widespread, causing problems for farm productivity and profits, as well as research. The authors also found that DNA fingerprinting can shed light on what drives farmers to misidentify varieties and how they can minimize misclassification.

“Varietal misidentification is not only related to farmer and farm characteristics but also depends on the properties of the seed system through which seeds are obtained. We need more comprehensive modeling approaches to improve our understanding of the system-level drivers of farmer varietal misclassification,” said co-author and CIMMYT senior agricultural economist Moti Jaleta.

However, like most technologies, DNA fingerprinting has its limitations. It may not always be feasible in all settings, and the costs may offset the benefits in areas where formal seed markets are already well-functioning.

“DNA fingerprinting is considered a reliable method to accurately identify varieties grown by farmers and is increasingly seen as the ‘gold standard’ for varietal identification. However, it requires a high-quality reference library, a well-designed sampling strategy, and accurate tracking of plant samples from collection sites to the point of analysis,” said CIMMYT senior scientist and co-author David Hodson.

Based on the results of the analysis, the authors recommend integrating DNA fingerprinting into existing national data collection toolboxes to accurately estimate adoption and turnover rates of improved crop varieties and to evaluate existing genetic crop diversity on farms. Understanding and promoting genetic crop diversity are crucial steps for enhancing food security and increasing the climate and pest and disease resilience of crops.

Having accurate estimates of adoption and turnover rates of varieties, combined with seed supply system assessment, can also help researchers and decision-makers pinpoint any bottlenecks or loopholes in the “lab to farm” process, according to the authors.

“The review aims at helping researchers and policymakers strategize to more effectively assess the functioning and effectiveness of seed diffusion systems to deliver modern seeds to smallholders,” concluded Krishna.

Read the full study: Because error has a price: A systematic review of the applications of DNA fingerprinting for crop varietal identification

Cover photo: Farmer examines wheat seed. Ciudad Obregon, Mexico 2017. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)

Researchers take part in Wheat Blast screening and surveillance course in Bangladesh. (Photo: CIMMYT/Tim Krupnik)

Weather data and crop disease simulations can power predictions of wheat blast outbreaks, new study shows

Written by Mike Listman on . Posted in Publications.

Cutting-edge models for crops and crop diseases, boosted by high-resolution climate datasets, could propel the development of early warning systems for wheat blast in Asia, helping to safeguard farmers’ grain supplies and livelihoods from this deadly and mysterious crop disease, according to a recent study by scientists at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

Originally from the Americas, wheat blast shocked farmers and experts in 2016 by striking 15,000 hectares of Bangladesh wheat fields, laying waste to a third of the crops. The complex interactions of wheat and the fungus, Magnaporthe oryzae pathotype Triticum (MoT), which causes blast, are not fully understood. Few current wheat varieties carry genetic resistance to it and fungicides only partly control it. Warm temperatures and high humidity favor MoT spore production and spores can fly far on winds and high-altitude currents.

Mean potential wheat blast disease infections (NPI) across Asia, based on disease and crop infection model simulations using air temperature and humidity data from 1980-2019. Black dots represent wheat growing areas with presumably unsuitable climates for wheat blast. The x and y axes indicate longitude and latitude.

“Using a wheat blast infection model with data for Asia air temperatures and humidity during 1980-2019, we found high potential for blast on wheat crops in Bangladesh, Myanmar, and areas of India, whereas the cooler and drier weather in countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan appear to render their wheat crops as unlikely for MoT establishment,” said Carlo Montes, a CIMMYT agricultural climatologist and first author of the paper, published in the International Journal of Biometeorology. “Our findings and approach are directly relevant for work to strengthen monitoring and forecasting tools for wheat blast and other crop diseases, as well as building farmers’ and agronomists’ disease control capacity.”

Montes emphasized the urgency of those efforts, noting that some 13 million hectares in South Asia are sown to wheat in rotation with rice and nearly all the region’s wheat varieties are susceptible to wheat blast.

Read the full study: Variable climate suitability for wheat blast (Magnaporthe oryzae pathotype Triticum) in Asia: Results from a continental‑scale modeling approach

Cover photo: Researchers take part in a wheat blast screening and surveillance course in Bangladesh. (Photo: CIMMYT/Tim Krupnik)

Breaking Ground: Andrea Gardeazábal transforms data into meaningful information

Written by Mary Donovan on . Posted in Features.

Andrea Gardeazábal has many titles — Monitor, Evaluation and Learning Manager, ICT for Agriculture — but the core of what she does is knowledge management. She merges monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL) with information communication technologies (ICT) to transform data into something meaningful.

A political scientist by training, Gardeazábal knows the power of data and statistics. As she began working on ICT-for-development projects in the field, she observed a lack of understanding of ICT and how the development sector could take advantage of these tools.

“I knew this was progressing very fast; that this was the future. Everyone was talking about ICT and the future with the internet of things, and social media was just getting started,” she said. So she asked herself, how could the development sector take advantage of these new technologies?

Gardeazábal was working on projects bringing computers to rural areas in Colombia, which did not have internet connection or electricity. The problem could not be solved simply with a machine. She wanted to understand how to use ICT for development in a meaningful way. This triggered an interest in MEAL, to understand how ICT benefits the development sector, or does not, and to reintegrate that information into project design and impact.

After working in ICT for civil participation, education and microfinance, she joined CIMMYT with the mission to understand ICT for agriculture. Now she merges ICT tools with MEAL, leading the design, development and operation of systems for data collection, data cleaning, data analysis and data visualization with the Integrated Development program’s projects in Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico.

Ensuring intended results

Monitoring, learning, accountability and evaluation is crucial to ensure CIMMYT delivers on its objectives. Monitoring means ensuring that operations in the field are happening as planned. Rather than waiting until the end of the project when the donor asks for a report, Gardeazábal’s team monitors operations in the field on a quarterly or yearly basis. The team, both in the field and at headquarters, uses this data to check that the project is achieving what was intended and make interventions or adjustments if necessary.

Evaluation looks at project results and evidence. The team collects evidence for every single data point that they have, and then evaluates that evidence for impact and results in the field. This data is not only related to yield increase, but includes sustainable production, capacity development, and adequate technology adaptation and adoption processes.

Accountability is transparency with funders, so that everyone involved in a project is accountable for the processes, decisions and impact. CIMMYT is able to show progress through a transparent relationship with funders.

Learning happens after the team collects information, produces results evaluations, and understands what was done well and where the process had to be redirected. This information can then inform design of new projects or project phases. “We use the data and analysis of each project to redesign or modify our plans for the next project or even what kinds of projects we want to conduct,” Gardeazábal said.

Andrea Gardeazábal merges ICT tools with monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning to improve project design.
Andrea Gardeazábal merges ICT tools with monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning to improve project design. (Photo: Francisco Alarcón/CIMMYT)

What ICT can offer

In the past, a MEAL team would collect data from a representative sample at the start of the project, then go back to the office and analyze that data. At the end of the project, the team would complete the same exercise, to see the difference from what they gathered at the beginning.

With ICT tools, researchers are able to gather and analyze robust data more quickly and can communicate efficiently with the beneficiaries of a project throughout its course. Artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms can help in understanding large sets of data so that this information can strengthen and streamline the MEAL process and project impact.

“We don’t need to wait until the end of the project for the results in the field or to have a sense of what the farmers are saying and achieving. We have a lot of tools, from the ICT side, that help make monitoring and evaluation more efficient,” Gardeazábal explained.

An international award recognized some of these ICT tools earlier this year. Gardeazábal formed part of the winning team with members from the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) working on groundbreaking data systems and tools that help over 150,000 farmers in Mexico.

The team tracked over 500 variables over different farming plots and analyzed them with geographic, weather and market data to help identify the best management practices for each plot. This information — including historic yield potential, local benchmarks, windows of opportunity, recommended agricultural practices and commodity price forecasting — is available to farmers through an app called AgroTutor (Android, iOS).

The importance of an enabling environment

However, Gardeazábal cautions against the idea that technology on its own is going to end poverty or increase food security.

“ICT is a vehicle for innovation in agriculture. Just having an app in the field is not enough to generate the change that we are actually looking for. You need an enabling environment, a network, engagement of the farmers and the buy-in of scientists to take advantage of ICT tools.”

From drones and satellite imagery to artificial intelligence, ICT tools can help CIMMYT carry out its mission by streamlining the data gathering and analytics processes.

However, this work is not done in isolation from the environment surrounding it. CIMMYT does not only work on increasing yields, but also manages resources and local networks in efficient ways. Teams must monitor data on air quality, water use and efficient information flows, analyze this data, and then return to the field with recommendations for the most sustainable production within integrated agri-food systems.

Finding the story behind weeds

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on . Posted in News.

Field technicians use their cameras during the Photovoice training. (Photo: CIMMYT)
Field technicians use their cameras during the Photovoice training. (Photo: CIMMYT)

The main focus of the Sustainable and Resilient Farming Systems Intensification (SRFSI) project is on conservation agriculture technologies. Since farmers may face an increase in weeds after adopting zero-till planters, however, more research is needed about how farmers are dealing with weed.

One of the research objectives of the project is to understand farmers’ knowledge, perception, and practices of conservation agriculture. To this end, researchers are using the Photovoice methodology in Cooch Behar (West Bengal, India), Rongpur (Bangladesh) and Sunsari (Nepal) to collect relevant data on weed management practices.

Photovoice is a visual qualitative research method that allows people to express their perspectives through photographs. Photography can be used for evaluation purposes, through storytelling exercises.

On December 6-7, 2019, field technicians in Bangladesh, India and Nepal participated in a training about this methodology. They learned the rationale of Photovoice, its technical and logistic aspects, as well as the ethical considerations and the need to collect consent forms.

Participants also learned how to take pictures of inter-row cultivation and weeds on the farm, and how to confirm the geolocation of the farm.

Worth a thousand words

Using the Photovoice method, 30 households will be explored, including their labor allocation and decision-making dynamics around the implementation of conservation agriculture practices.

The effectiveness of this approach will emerge as smallholder farmers present their perspectives through photographs accompanied by their narratives.

Activities will be monitored on weekly basis.

The SRFSI project, funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, is set to improve the productivity, profitability and sustainability of smallholder agriculture in the Eastern Gangetic Plains of Bangladesh, India and Nepal, by promoting sustainable intensification based on conservation agriculture technologies.