Tag: partnerships

Reaching out to millions of smallholder farmers: exploring collaboration with Shamba Shape-Up

Written by Jérôme Bossuet on November 8, 2018. Posted in News.

On October 22, David Campbell, CEO of Mediae, and his team presented their TV and digital education and development programs to International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) staff in Nairobi, Kenya. Mediae is a media company producing the iconic Shamba Shape Up, a weekly farming education TV series watched in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

The purpose of the meeting was to explore the possibility of partnership between CIMMYT and Mediae. Farmer education programs like Shamba Shape Up can showcase CIMMYT’s innovations to millions of farmers. Better awareness could lead to increased adoption of innovations and enhance household incomes, as well as food and nutritional security.

Other education and extension programs include Shamba Chef, which targets women with information about nutrition and family finance, and iShamba, an information service that provides over 350,000 farmers with information on market prices, the weather forecast and tips on crop and animal production.

Since 2013, Shamba Shape Up has run weekly episodes in English and Swahili on Kenya’s Citizen TV, reaching an estimated at 3.5 million people, 70 percent of whom live in rural areas. This “edutainment” program highlights challenges smallholders face in their farming activities. Farm advisories range from crop production, animal husbandry and soil fertility, to seeds, pests and diseases, and climate change adaptation strategies. Usually, highlighted farmers narrate the issues on their farm to a TV presenter while an expert from the private or non-profit sector offers advice on remedial measures. This helps the farmer to improve their productivity and livelihood. Campbell believes that “a mix of entertainment and research elements have enabled the program to remain relevant and sustainably serve large, diverse audiences.”

A farmer measures his crop. (Image: Shamba Shape Up)

In April 2014, CIMMYT and the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) were featured in a Shamba Shape Up episode. The broadcast showcased a maize farmer whose crop production had been devastated by striga, a parasitic weed that had infested over 300,000 hectares of maize in western Kenya. Farmers were advised to plant IR maize, a new herbicide-coated seed variety that is immune to striga and can kill it, and this helped to stop the spread of striga in the region. A more recent episode featuring CIMMYT’s efforts to instill sustainable intensification practices among farmers was aired in February 2018.

Campbell and his team have observed that while millions of farmers enjoy their education programs, many fail to continue applying expert advice on good agricultural practices, such as conservation farming, on their own farms. One particular challenge and area with scope for collaboration is to conduct proper impact evaluation of education programs on farming practices changes and livelihoods.

The visiting delegation pose for a photo with CIMMYT representatives in El Batan, Mexico. Photo: CIMMYT.

CIMMYT set to strengthen collaboration with China’s Sichuan Province

Written by Emma Orchardson on November 7, 2018. Posted in News.

On October 23, 2018, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) welcomed a delegation of government officials from Sichuan Province, China, for the signing of a memorandum of understanding.

The Vice Governor of the Sichuan Province Government, Yao Sidan, led the delegation, which included representatives from the provincial government, the Sichuan Forestry Department, Chongzhou Municipal Government, and the Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences (SAAS).

They met with CIMMYT’s Deputy Director General, Marianne Bänziger; the Director of the Global Wheat Program, Hans Braun; the Director of the Sustainable Intensification Program, Bruno Gerard; and the Head of Bread Wheat Improvement and Rust Research, Ravi Singh.

CIMMYT representatives presented the center’s current research agenda in China and discussed with Sichuan officials possible opportunities for strengthening collaboration.

Sichuan is the fourth most populated province in China, with a population of 91 million, over two-thirds of whom live in rural areas. The province is rich in natural resources and has a cultivated land area of 10 million hectares. Despite its rapid development over the past decades, 1.7 million of Sichuan’s inhabitants still live in poverty and food security remains a key priority. In order to improve standards of living, it is important to ensure that Sichuan residents not only have enough food, but that they can harvest and consume high-quality crops.

Looking into the future of a long partnership

“CIMMYT’s support and collaboration is very important for us,” explained Yao. Collaboration between CIMMYT and the Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences has contributed to a significant improvement in standards of living within the province over the last 30 years, but there is scope for deepening and widening the partnership in order to continue improving maize and wheat production in the region.

Maize and wheat research is particularly advanced at the Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Many of its scientists are already working closely with CIMMYT researchers, but further collaboration is required to tackle ongoing wheat production and quality challenges.

“CIMMYT has enjoyed many years of collaboration with scientists in Chengdu,” said Singh, “and though there has been successful development of wheat varieties using CIMMYT germplasm, production and quality is still being affected by challenges such as yellow rust and rising water levels of the Yellow and Yangtze rivers.” However, he explained, CIMMYT can offer wheat materials for greater quality.

Gerard highlighted that as one of the world leaders in terms of conservation agriculture, China can play a key role in reducing global agriculture’s environmental footprint. CIMMYT also stands to learn from China’s expertise on agricultural technologies, he added, particularly with regard to precision agriculture, small-scale mechanization, and other tools that would prove useful to farmers in other regions of the world.

Another possible area for collaboration is researching the effects of radiation on yield loss and crop quality. There is evidence that wheat yields in other countries are significantly reduced by high levels of pollution, but the full effects of radiation on yield loss are still not very well understood, particularly in China. There is also scope to strengthen cooperation on seed industries, the use of specialty maize, diversification and aflatoxins.

CIMMYT shows partners in Kenya new breakthroughs in maize and wheat research

Written by Jérôme Bossuet on October 10, 2018. Posted in News.

NAIROBI (Kenya) — Members of the International Maize Improvement Consortium (IMIC) and other partners had a chance to go on a field visit to the Kiboko and Naivasha research stations in Kenya on September 18 and 19, 2018. The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the Kenya Agriculture & Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) held their annual partner field days to share the latest developments in maize and wheat research.

On the first day, CIMMYT invited IMIC researchers to evaluate Material Under Development at the Kiboko site. These maize lines are not publicly released yet but are available to IMIC partners, so they can select the most promising ones for their research and crop improvement work.

Each seed company was looking for certain traits to develop new hybrid varieties. For instance, Samit Fayek, from Fine Seeds Egypt was looking for ‘erect type’ maize, as he wants higher crop density and grains that look big. Christopher Volbrecht, from Lake Agriculture in South Africa, was looking for “cobs that stick out as this is what farmers want.” Josephine Okot, from Victoria Seeds in Uganda, said that “seed companies often look at drought tolerance only, but we need now to integrate resistance to Maize Lethal Necrosis.”

Using Doubled Haploid breeding in Kiboko

*Some of the workers at Kiboko station sorting out maize seed varieties. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)*

Next on the tour to Kiboko, partners visited various stress-tolerant breeding materials, sustainable intensification cropping demonstrations and the Doubled Haploid facility. Vijaya Chaikam, Maize Doubled Haploid Scientist, explained how CIMMYT uses this methodology to cut down breeding time from six to two cycles, which drastically reduces costs.

According to B.M. Prasanna, director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program and the CGIAR Research Program MAIZE, doubled haploid breeding is possibly the biggest innovation to speed up genetic gain since the inception of hybrid technology a century ago. “In the next 4 or 5 years, CIMMYT aims at 80 percent use of double haploid lines for new hybrid development; breeding will be faster and much cheaper that way,” Prasanna said. “For now, breeders and seed companies need to know how to use double haploid lines to cost-efficiently crossbreed with their varieties for high-quality hybrids.”

At the end of the visit to Kiboko, CIMMYT officially opened a new maize seed storage cold room. This facility will serve to keep seeds in good condition and to better manage inventory. At the opening were the director of KALRO’s Food Crops Research Institute, Joyce Malinga, CIMMYT’s Africa Regional Representative, Stephen Mugo, and CIMMYT’s Technical Lead for the Global Maize Program, Aparna Das.

Fighting Maize Lethal Necrosis and rust in Naivasha

*A worker at the Naivasha MLN research station conducts a mock inoculation (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)*

On the second day, partners visited the Naivasha research station. There, CIMMYT presented the latest efforts to contain Maize Lethal Necrosis (MLN), a devastating maize viral disease first reported in Kenya in 2011 which caused severe crop losses across Eastern Africa, causing severe crop losses. The Naivasha research station is home to a world-class facility to screen for Maize Lethal Necrosis, jointly managed by CIMMYT and KALRO.

At the facility, maize lines are evaluated for MLN resistance. The best lines and varieties are nominated for further development and shared with partners. National Agriculture Research partners can request MLN screening at no cost, while private seed companies are charged for the service. In the last four years, more than 150,000 germplasm have been screened.

CIMMYT wheat scientist Mandeep Randhawa explained how to recognize the different types of wheat rust diseases: stem, stripe and leaf rusts. He emphasized the Ug99 black stem rust strain, which appeared in Uganda in 1998 and has since severely impacted wheat production in the region and globally. Randhawa explained how CIMMYT develops varieties resistant to stem rust using a phenotyping platform and marker-assisted selection.

These two field days were a great opportunity to showcase progress in developing more resilient maize varieties in a fast and cost-effective way. This responsiveness is crucial as pests and diseases continue to threaten the livelihoods of African smallholders. Such impact could not happen without the strong collaboration between CIMMYT and KALRO.

The director of KALRO's Food Crops Research Institute, Joyce Malinga (left), the director of CIMMYT Global Maize Program, B.M. Prasanna (center), and CIMMYT's Regional Representative, Stephen Mugo, open the maize seed cold room in Kiboko (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT) — The director of KALRO’s Food Crops Research Institute, Joyce Malinga (left), the director of CIMMYT Global Maize Program, B.M. Prasanna (center), and CIMMYT’s Regional Representative, Stephen Mugo, open the maize seed cold room in Kiboko (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

The Doubled Haploid Facility in Kiboko and the Maize Lethal Necrosis screening facilty in Naivasha were opened in 2013 with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Syngenta Foundation.

The International Maize Improvement Consortium (IMIC) is a public-private partnership initiative launched in May 2018 as part of CIMMYT’s mission to ramp up seed breeding and production innovations.

Governments must raise, not cut, funding for food security

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on November 8, 2017. Posted in In the media.

A Financial Times editorial by CIMMYT wheat physiologist Matthew Reynolds presents a new proposal for expanding the wheat network to include other major food crops and speed farmers’ adoption of vital technologies that can end hunger and address climate change. The idea has the support of experts from leading funding and development agencies.

https://www.ft.com/content/b3d07616-c3d3-11e7-a1d2-6786f39ef675

China’s vice premier ushers in new era of agricultural collaboration

Written by on August 11, 2016. Posted in News.

China’s Vice Premier Liu Yandong (right) with CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff. Photo: A. Cortes/CIMMYT

TEXCOCO, Mexico (CIMMYT) — A new collaborative program promising to train Chinese Ph.D. and postdoctoral students annually at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) builds on the three decade relationship the organization holds with China.

The memorandum of understanding was signed during China’s Vice Premier Liu Yandong’s visit to CIMMYT on 9 August by the Secretary General of the Chinese Scholarship Council Liu Jinghui and CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff.

“In the face of climate change, water shortages and other challenges, innovative strategies to agricultural development are necessary for China’s future development,” Yandong said. “We hope to strengthen cooperation with CIMMYT — this will have a tremendous effect on both China and the world.”

Since 1970, more than 20 Chinese institutes have been involved in germplasm exchange and improvement, conservation agriculture and capacity building, with 56 Chinese researchers receiving their doctoral degrees with CIMMYT. Since the CIMMYT-China Office was opened in 1997, 26 percent of wheat grown in China has derived from CIMMYT materials.

Secretary General of the Chinese Scholarship Council Liu Jinghui (left) with CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff during the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding to train 10 PhD and Postdoc students at CIMMYT each year. Photo: A. Cortes/CIMMYT

During the visit, the vice premier discussed China’s new five-year plan (2016 – 2020) that focuses on innovation, international cooperation and green growth, to modernize agriculture in an environmental friendly way over the next 20 to 30 years.

Benefits of three decades of international collaboration in wheat research have added as much as 10.7 million tons of grain – worth $3.4 billion – to China’s national wheat output. Eight CIMMYT scientists have won the Chinese Friendship Award – the highest award for “foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to the country’s economic and social progress.”

Agrovegetal and CIMMYT renew alliance

Written by on April 26, 2013. Posted in News.

On 12 April 2013, CIMMYT director general Thomas Lumpkin and José Ortega Cabello, chairman of the Campo de Tejada cooperative in Spain, signed a five-year extension of a collaborative agreement between Agrovegetal S.A. and CIMMYT dating back to 1998. The objective of the agreement is to develop improved durum wheat, bread wheat, and triticale varieties.

Agrovegetal is an association of several farmer cooperatives and other entities, whose objective is to offer quality seed to farmers in the Andalucía region of Spain. To that end, it channels resources and efforts towards strategic research and development priorities and activities aimed at developing improved varieties.

Ortega Cabello, Ignacio Solís Martel, Agrovegetal’s technical director, and Rafael Sánchez de Puerta Díaz from the Andalucian Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives, met with Hans Braun, CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program director, to define the specific durum wheat, bread wheat, and triticale research activities that will be conducted to develop high-yielding, highquality, drought-tolerant, and disease-resistant varieties.

Among the alliance’s successes to date is the development of materials with high yield stability and resistance to downy mildew and leaf rust, as well as durums with high pasta-making quality and bread wheats with good baking quality and yellow rust resistance. It has also produced triticales with high protein content, high specific grain weight, and resistance to foliar diseases (downy mildew, rusts, and septoria).

CIMMYT strengthens partnership with Zimbabwe

Written by on November 15, 2012. Posted in News.

Thomas Lumpkin, CIMMYT director general, and Honorable Joseph Made, Minister of Agriculture and Mechanization of Zimbabwe, signed a new memorandum of understanding on 29 October 2012 to strengthen the relationship between CIMMYT and the government of Zimbabwe.

During the ceremony, Made expressed gratitude to CIMMYT for its continued support of Zimbabwe during the past 10 years of economic hardships. “For so long CIMMYT has been a visitor, but from today it will remain a permanent resident in Zimbabwe and our region — Southern Africa. The Government of Zimbabwe appreciates CIMMYT’s confidence in Zimbabwe to retain its Southern Africa Regional Office and its scientists during the difficult periods we underwent,” said Made. Lumpkin then thanked the Government of Zimbabwe for providing a favorable working environment and support for CIMMYT’s activities. Lumpkin confirmed that CIMMYT would continue to bring cutting-edge science to Zimbabwe and the region as a whole to ensure sustainable maize production. Special focus will be on cooperation in breeding drought and heat tolerant maize varieties, crucial in the face of climate change particularly in sub- Saharan Africa.

The ceremony was attended by a team of senior government officials from the ministry of Agriculture and Mechanization, CIMMYT staff, and Lindiwe Sibanda, CIMMYT Board of Trustees member. During the event, Lumpkin presented the 2012 Award for the Best Maize Breeding Team to Made and the Zimbabwean breeding team for the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project. The Zimbabwe team has won this award for the third consecutive year. The DTMA team also received a new pickup truck from Made to facilitate the field breeding work around Zimbabwe.