Sorghum field in Kiboko, Kenya. (Photo: E Manyasa/ICRISAT)
As part of the One CGIAR reform, the Global Science Group on Genetic Innovation will implement a crop breeding and seed systems project for key crops including groundnut, sorghum and millet, across western and eastern African countries.
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), a leader in innovative partnerships, breeding and agronomic science for sustainable agri-food systems, will lead the project.
The Accelerated Varietal Improvement and Seed Delivery of Legumes and Cereals in Africa (AVISA) project aims to improve the health and livelihoods of millions by increasing the productivity, profitability, resilience and marketability of nutritious grain, legumes and cereal crops. The project focuses on strengthening networks to modernize crop breeding by CGIAR and national program partners, and public-private partnerships to strengthen seed systems. The project currently works in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Uganda and Tanzania.
âSorghum, groundnut and millets are essential staples of nutritious diets for millions of farmers and consumers and are crucial for climate-change-resilient farming systems,â explained CIMMYT Deputy Director General and Head of Genetic Resources, Kevin Pixley. âThe oversight of this project by CGIARâs Genetic Innovation Science Group will ensure continued support for the improvement of these crops in partnership with the national agricultural research and extension systems (NARES) that work with and for farmers,â he said.
âCIMMYT is delighted to lead this project on behalf of the Genetic Innovations Science Group and CGIAR,â confirms CIMMYT Director General, Bram Govaerts.
âWe look forward to contributing to co-design and co-implement with partners and stakeholders the next generation of programs that leverage and build the strengths of NARES, CGIAR and others along with the research to farmers and consumers continuum to improve nutrition, livelihoods, and resilience to climate change through these crops and their cropping systems.â
Over the past several decades, maize breeders have made considerable strides in the development and deployment of new hybrids. These offer higher yields compared to older varieties and reduce the risks farmers face from the vagaries of a changing climate and emerging pest and disease threats. But, for small-scale farmers to adopt new, improved climate-resilient and stress-tolerant maize hybrids at scale, they must be first available, accessible and their benefits need to be widely understood and appreciated. This is where vibrant national seed industries potentially play an important role.
Prior to the 1990s, government agencies tended to play the lead role in hybrid production and distribution. Since then, expectations are that the private sector â in particular locally owned small-scale seed enterprises â produce maize hybrids and distribute them to farmers. When successful, local seed industries are able to produce quality new hybrids and effectively market them to farmers, such that newer hybrids replace older ones in agrodealer stores in relatively short periods of time. If small seed enterprises lack capacities or incentives to aggressively market new hybrids, then the gains made by breeding will not be realized in farmersâ fields. By monitoring seed sales, breeders at CIMMYT and elsewhere, as well as seed business owners, gain insights into smallholdersâ preferences and demands.
A recent publication in Food Security assesses the capacities of 22 small and medium-sized seed enterprises in Mexico to produce and market new maize hybrids. The study draws on the experience of the MasAgro project, a decade-long development whereby the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), in partnership with Mexicoâs Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER), engaged with dozens of locally owned seed businesses to expand their portfolio of maize hybrids.
The authors, led by CIMMYT senior economist Jason Donovan, highlight the critical role the MasAgro project played in reinvigorating the portfolios of maize seeds produced by small and medium-sized enterprises. MasAgro âfilled a gap that had long existed in publicly supported breeding programsâ by providing easy access to new cultivars, available to local seed companies without royalties or branding conditions, and without the need for seed certification. The enterprises, in turn, showed a remarkably high capacity to take up new seed technology, launching 129 commercial products between 2013 and 2017.
âWithout doubt the MasAgro project can be considered a success in terms of its ability to get new maize germplasm into the product portfolios of small seed companies throughout Mexico,â Donovan said.
The authors also delve into the challenges these maize enterprises faced as they looked to scale the new technologies in a competitive market that has long been dominated by multinational seed enterprises. They observed a lack of access to physical capital, which in turn evidenced a lack of financial capital or access to credit, as well as limited marketing know-how and capacity to integrate marketing innovations into their operations. While most maize enterprises identified the need to expand sales of new commercial products, âsigns of innovation in seed marketing were limitedâ and most of them relied heavily on sales to local and state governments.
According to Donovan, âThe MasAgro experience also shows that a strong focus on the demand side of formal seed systems is needed if breeding programs are to achieve greater impact in less time. This implies more attention to how farmers decide on which seed to purchase and how seed companies and seed retailers market seed to farmers. It also implies strong coordination between public sector to make building the local seed industry a national imperative.â
Beyond the Mexican context, the paperâs findings may be of particular interest to development organizations looking to supply local seed industries facing strong competition from regional and multinational companies. One example is the effort to support small seed businesses in Nepal, which face strong competition from larger Indian companies with long histories of engagement in Nepalese seed markets. There are also important lessons for policymakers in eastern and southern Africa, where strict controls over seed release and certification potentially lead to higher production costs and slower rates of introduction of new products by local maize seed companies.
New improved maize varieties may fall short in meeting the needs of women and the poorest of farmers â 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 menâs and womenâs 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 maizeÂÂâyield, drought tolerance and early maturityâare 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 varietiesâ agronomic and productivity-related traits may overlook critical components of farmersâ 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 thereâs 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 conditionsâincluding 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 womenâs 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 farmerâs choice of seed. We need to understand market segments for seed in relation to farmersâ 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 womenâs 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 anotherâs 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.
A worker uses a machine to seal a bag of maize seed at the Sementes Nzara Yapera Lda warehouse in Catandika, Mozambique. Photo: CIMMYT/Kipenz Films.
A newly published special issue in the journal Outlook on Agriculture features views and experiences on seed systems performance in Sub-Saharan Africa and options to drive faster uptake of new crop varieties. The contributions reflect the breadth of perspectives and expertise within CGIAR and beyond and make the case for the need for more demand-oriented variety development and seed delivery.
A seed system refers to the various actors, processes, and relationships that allow for the production, conservation, exchange and use of propagation materials for crops, trees, forages, livestock, and fish. For the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), seed systems involve private seed companies, retailers, and government research agencies, among others, that are involved in the design, testing, production and distribution of high-yielding, climate-resilient, and pest- and disease-resistant maize hybrids.
âA well-functioning seed system is critical for ensuring that farmers have reliable access to the quality seeds that they want. It forms the critical link between breeders and the small-scale farmers responsible for much of the food production in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and South Asia,â said CIMMYT Senior Economist Jason Donovan, who co-authored the introductory article.
âThe papers in this collection raise important issues which up to now have not received enough attention, to include the strategies, capacities and incentives of the private sector to invest in the distribution of new varieties. The topics discussed have implications for the One CGIAR in its ongoing efforts to develop a coherent and coordinated seed system research program that supports accelerated varietal uptake and turnover through effective seed delivery,â he added.
CIMMYT researchers contributed two papers, one which looks at the role of different types of seed producers and traders in shaping seed systems performance and another which proposes new directions for research on gender and formal maize seed systems. The special edition grew out of the CGIAR Community of Excellence for Seed Systems Development where CIMMYT led the discussion on seed value chains and private sector linkages.
One consensus among the authors is that a wider range of partnerships will be required to reenforce the potential of seed systems to delivery more new varieties to small-scale farmers in less time.
The ever-changing environmental conditions and the urgency to improve food production and productivity for growing populations have ushered in the necessity for smallholder farmers to have widespread access to improved seed in the last mile. However, adequate access to the preferred, good-quality seeds that are climate-resilient and nutrition-dense is essential to farmersâ food and livelihood security. While seed security is an important first step to improved food production in developing countries and well examined in disaster situations, it remains understudied concerning long-term seed sector development, says a new study.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) describes seed security as âready access by rural households, particularly farmers and farming communities, to adequate quantities of quality seeds adapted to their agro-ecological conditions and socioeconomic needs, at planting time, under normal and abnormal weather conditions.â In 2016, FAO specified two elements: varietal suitability (traits that respond to farmersâ preferences) and resilience (stability of seed system in the context of shocks) in addition to seed quantity, quality, and access identified in the earlier conceptualization of seed security.
Widespread seed insecurity
The study analyzed farmersâ seed use and preferences (demand-side) and the role of actors and institutions (supply-side) to understand farmersâ seed security. The latter was examined within the context of the recently adopted Pluralistic Seed System Development Strategy (PSSDS) of Ethiopia to understand how they affect the availability, quantity, quality, accessibility, and suitability of seeds from different sources. They focused on seed systems in two districts in Central Ethiopia â subsistence teff-growing and commercial wheat-growing districts. Since it started its operation in Ethiopia, CGIARâs International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) has been one of the major actors in the commercial wheat district covered in this study. CIMMYT has contributed to the capacity building of Kulumsa Agricultural Research Center, a center of excellence for wheat research and development in East Africa that has released over 70 improved bread wheat and durum wheat varieties.
Despite great strides made in improving the seed sector in Ethiopia, the study found that the farmers in the two districts predominantly rely on the informal seed systems, concluding widespread seed insecurity in both regions. The study reported discrepancies between seeds farmers say they prefer and those they actually use. This discrepancy is due to the limited availability of improved varieties and specially certified seeds of these varieties, challenges with seed quality from some sources, and inequitable access to preferred seed and information according to sex, age, and wealth.
Explaining the finding concerning the widespread seed insecurity observed in the study districts, Teshome Hunduma, the lead author of the study, noted: âWe were able to reveal some of the social, political, and institutional constraints and opportunities that underlie chronic seed insecurity among smallholder farmers in the two districts in Ethiopia. The country has a good seed sector development policy, for instance, the PSSDS, but these constraints limited its implementation.â
Women empowerment and access to certified seeds
In the study districts where CIMMYT operates, wealthy farmers aligned with the Ethiopian government received a privileged position as model farmers enjoyed increased seed access. Likewise, female-headed households targeted by the extension services had improved access to certified seeds. The presence of development actors, including CIMMYT alongside its partners such as Kulumsa Agricultural Research Center, actively contributed to the âunusual empowerment of women in the predominantly wheat-growing districts,â according to Hunduma. Hunduma referred to the following excerpt from the study to confirm his upbeat impression during his field research.
The study reports: âthe women focus group participants highlighted unexpectedly positive empowerment of female heads of household and their related access to improved agricultural technologies [improved wheat]:
Unfortunately, all of us are on our own, i.e., we are widows and divorcees. ( . . . ) We do everything that most men do in farming. In the past, women, including widows and divorcees, were not considered equal to men. Now, we have more freedom and voice. We equally participate in meetings, trainings, and access inputs as men. We express our ideas in public gatherings⊠We learnt new techniques and gained skills in agriculture. We have better savings; some of us have saved between 70,000 to 100,000 ETB. We have full control over our incomes and resources. We hire labor and rent land to expand our production.
According to Hunduma, âdevelopment actors, including CGIAR and its partners, targeted female heads of households for varietal adaptation trial, seed multiplication, extension and credit services, which led to a significant push for a gender-sensitive approach to agricultural development.â
Over the past two decades, Ethiopia has also achieved high wheat production levels and productivity due to the germplasm that CGIAR introduced in the country in collaboration with its partners. This strategy has firmly put the country on the right path towards wheat self-sufficiency.
As national seed policies and programs in developing countries have primarily focused on the formal seed supply system, farmersâ use of seeds from the formal seed system remains limited. The pluralistic seed system approach could appear to provide a path to seed security in developing countries. Nevertheless, political, organizational, and economic interests within key institutions represent significant obstacles, which need to be addressed. The study concludes that efforts to support farmersâ access to seeds should recognize the complementarity of formal and informal seed systems. Thus the study advocates a pluralistic approach to seed sector development by promoting complementarity of activities between value-chain components of each seed system.Â
Cover photo: Part of Ethiopiaâs Southeastern wheat belt in the Heexosa district, where the pioneering Green Revolution project started in Ethiopia. (Credit: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)
Wheat is the second most important staple crop in Ethiopia and a major pillar for food security. Based on fingerprinting analysis from 2018, about 87% of all wheat varieties grown in Ethiopia are CIMMYT-derived.
Domestic wheat production and productivity has nearly doubled over the past 15 years, due to improved farmer access to better varieties, agronomic practice recommendations and conducive marketing and supply chain policies. Nevertheless, due to population growth, higher incomes and accelerated urbanization, the demand for wheat in Ethiopia is increasing faster than productivity, with the demand for an additional 1.5 million tons of wheat per year satisfied through imports.
In 2018, the Government of Ethiopia set a policy to achieve wheat national self-sufficiency by 2023. Additional production would come primarily from the irrigated lowlands of the Awash valley, in the Afar and Oromia regions, where the current cotton mono-culture would be converted to a cotton-wheat rotation.
Preliminary yield trials conducted by Werer Agricultural Research Center and based on experiences in Sudan where climate conditions are similar, on-farm wheat grain yields of 4 tons per hectare can be achieved. The potential area for irrigated wheat-cotton is at present around 500,000 hectares, which, when fully implemented, has the potential to make Ethiopia self-sufficient for wheat production.
The challenges to develop the current lowland into productive farming systems are significant and include identifying high yielding, early maturing, heat-tolerant, rust-resistant wheat varieties with appropriate end-use quality.
Appropriate mechanization will be required to allow farmers to facilitate rapid preparation of fields for wheat sowing after harvesting cotton, as well as for mechanized harvesting. Tested packages of agronomic and land management practices will be needed to optimize the production systems while mitigating against soil salinization.
In coordination with the national research and extension systems, this project will evaluate and pilot wheat technologies and packages of practices to reach 1,000 smallholders and medium commercial farmers in the Awash valley, and enable them to use these technologies and practices on 10,000 hectares of irrigated land in the first year, following the conclusion of this project.
Objectives
Capacity of research and development practitioners working on irrigated lowland wheat developed.
Improved wheat elite lines evaluated, and pre-release seed multiplication initiated of variety candidates.
Tested package of agronomic practices are ready for scaling.
Demonstration and piloting of appropriate machineries (modern mechanization) for irrigated wheat production.
Wheat leaves showing symptoms of heat stress. (Photo: CIMMYT) For more information, see CIMMYT’s Wheat Doctor: http://wheatdoctor.cimmyt.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=84&Itemid=43&lang=en. Photo credit: CIMMYT.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed vast inequalities when it comes to food security. But there is an even larger and more concerning crisis waiting for us: global food shortages caused by climate change.
Nobody knows when or how hard it will hit, but we inch closer each year with new temperature records, the spread of pests, and emerging crop diseases. We are already seeing the beginning of this future crisis. Climate-induced food price hikes have caused political turmoil in the Middle East, while climate-related disasters have been linked with mass human migration in South Asia.
Every seed company and crop research center worldwide is preoccupied with the race to breed hardier crops to keep pace with the demands of a growing population as circumstances become increasingly challenging. But the truth is, this is a relay race, and yet the crop research field is running 100-meter sprints in different places at different times.
For every scientific advance, other areas of crop research go under-resourced and are technology poor, with asymmetries in research investment creating islands of knowledge that are disparate and disconnected. Â These research asymmetries hold back crop improvement as a whole, contributing to climate-induced crop failure and the political turmoil that ensues when staple foods become scarce.
While it is common for academic crop scientists to share ideas and collaborate with industry, it is far less typical for major seed companies to cooperate with each other.
If the public and private sectors are to have any chance of outrunning climate change, industry must shift toward investing in mutually beneficial research and development to pool resources and build on every gain, in the interests of the whole.
In an unprecedented first step that reveals just how much pressure the sector feels about the daunting task ahead, some of the crop industryâs main players and competitors â including Syngenta, BASF, Corteva and KWS â recently shared their insights into the gaps in existing crop science.
The shortcomings identified that hold back the crop industry from addressing the looming food crisis have three features in common. They are all under-represented in scientific literature, are likely to boost productivity across a wide range of crops and environments, and crucially, the research is fundamental enough to be âpre-competitive,â or valuable without jeopardizing individual business outcomes.
For example, although scientists have made progress towards improving the potential of crucial processes in crop development, like photosynthesis, other gaps in knowledge must be filled to ensure that this translates into improved yield, especially under unstable environments.
Such research is critical to ensuring reliable harvests across a range of crops, and can be conducted without infringing the intellectual property or proprietary technology of any single company.
However, accessing research funding can be surprisingly difficult. Public research budgets are shrinking, their funds are at risk of being re-appropriated, and collaboration is not the industry standard.
New funding models, such as public-private partnerships, can collectively address knowledge gaps to avoid potential catastrophes for society at large.
This approach has already proven fruitful. The public-private consortium âCrops of the Future Collaborativeâ brings competitors together to jointly fund research into the characteristics crops need to adapt to a changing future.
Industry matched the Collaborativeâs initial $10 million investment by the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research to work on corn that survives in drought conditions and leafy greens that are resistant to pests.
Conducting this research jointly drastically improves crop efficiency and the technological toolbox available to breeders and other crop scientists, passing the baton in the race towards a food secure future.
Increasing the global food supply through research and development is the most achievable and sure approach to avoid a global food crisis, and comes with historically high returns on investment. Furthermore, scientists can tap into a global infrastructure of researchers across public and private sectors, international organizations, and the millions of farmers worldwide who have willingly collaborated over the last half century to provide enough food for all.
Failure to collaborate will ultimately result in unsustainable food systems, which not only renders seed companies obsolete but threatens a prerequisite of civilization: food security.
The private sector has the knowledge and resources to redefine the race. Rather than competing against one another, the crop industry must join forces to compete instead with climate change. And it is a contest we can only win if all players work together.
Matthew Reynolds is a distinguished scientist with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center. Jeffrey L. Rosichan is a director with Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research. Leon Broers is a board member with KWS SAAT SE & Co. KGaA.
Farmer Florence Ochieng harvests green maize on her 105-acre family farm near Kitale, Kenya. (Photo: P. Lowe/CIMMYT)
Smallholder farmers are often torn between maize seed varieties that have multiple desirable traits. Since they cannot always have it all â there are limits on what traits breeders can integrate in any given variety â they face the dilemma of which seed to pick at the expense of an equally desirable option.
Trait preference trade-offs among maize farmers in western Kenya, published in March 2021, provides evidence of this prioritization and seeks to help breeders, seed companies and other stakeholders set priorities that account for farmersâ needs and their willingness to make preference trade-offs. The researchers evaluated responses from 1,288 male and female farmers in the mid-altitude maize growing areas of western Kenya.
The study argues that farmer-centered seed systems (including seed companies) should be guided by farmersâ priorities and reflect a greater understanding of the tradeoffs these farmers make between traits and varieties. They have two key options, according to Paswel Marenya, the studyâs lead researcher and adoption and impact assessment economist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). The first involves prioritizing the critical must-have traits in any one variety. The second option entails having multiple varieties that meet diverse farmersâ needs and then segmenting the seed markets.
While Marenya argues that prioritization is important for balancing commercial realities and farmersâ diverse interests, he is quick to add that âmarket segmentation has limits imposed by the commercial viability of each segment.â
âAt every turn, from breeding to farmer varietal preferences to seed company considerations, there have to be trade-offs, as one cannot keep segmenting the market forever,â Marenya said. âAt some point, you must stop and choose what traits to prioritize in your breeding or commercially viable market segments, based on the most pressing challenges already identified.â
CIMMYT researchers conduct interviews in Kenya to determine farmer preferences for maize traits. (Photo: CIMMYT)
Differences in tradeoffs among men and women
From a gender lens, the paper reveals an obvious difference in tradeoffs made by men and women. Whereas the two groups desire some similar traits in their varieties of choice, women seem to be willing to make slightly larger yield sacrifices in favor of tolerance to drought and Striga and good storability. Women also valued good storability over 90-day maturity, while men appeared to place a higher value on the closed tip, a sign of resistance to moisture infiltration which causes grain rotting.
âThese results imply that unless the risks of storage or pre-harvest losses are reduced or eliminated, the value of high yielding varieties can be diminished if they are susceptible to production stresses or the grain characteristics make them susceptible to storage pests,â the study states.
The study indicates that farmers may adopt stress tolerant and high yielding varieties with somewhat low storability only if advanced grain storage technologies are available.
Until then, the suggestion to policy makers responsible for maize breeding is to use âmulti-criteria evaluationsâ of new varieties to ensure that traits for stress tolerance and storability are given optimal weighting in variety release decisions.
Additionally, information about farmer preferences should be fed back to breeding programs in national and international institutes responsible for maize genetic improvement.
Mary Nzau enters a mock agrodealer shop set up on a field on the outskirts of Tala town in Machakos County, Kenya. On display are nine 2kg bags of hybrid maize seed. She picks one. By the look of it, her mind is made up. After a quick scan of the shelf, she has in her hand the variety that she has been purchasing for years.
Regina Mbaika Mutua is less lucky. The variety she always buys is not on display in the mock shop. As part of the experiment, the research team has removed from the shelf the variety she indicated she usually buys. The teamâs goal is to observe what factors influence her seed purchase decision in the absence of the variety she was expecting to purchase.
âAlthough I did not find the variety I was looking for, I picked an alternative as I have seen it perform well on a neighboring farm,â Mutua says, adding that she will plant it this season alongside recycled (farm-saved) seed on her one-acre farm.
Michael Mutua passes up the popular variety he has been planting for the previous two years. He picks one that has been advertised extensively on local radio. âI have heard about it severally on radio. I would like to experiment with this new seed and see how it performs on my farm. Should I like the results, I will give it a chance in ensuing seasons,â he says.
Pieter Rutsaert explains the study setup at a mock agrodealer shop. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)
The big adoption conundrum
The goal of the out-of-stock study is to improve an understanding of how farmers make their maize seed choices, says Pieter Rutsaert, Markets and Value Chain Specialist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).
âWe do this by inviting farmers to a mock agrodealer store that we set up in their villages and give them a small budget to purchase a bag of seed. However, not all farmers walk into the same store: some will find their preferred variety, others wonât. Some will have access to additional trait information or see some varieties with price promotions while others donât.â
Rutsaert acknowledges that breeding programs and their partner seed companies have done a great job at giving farmers access to maize hybrids with priority traits such as drought tolerance and high yield. CIMMYT then works closely with local seed companies to get varieties into the hands of farmers. âWe want to extend that support by providing insights to companies and public breeding programs on how to get new varieties more quickly into the hands of farmers,â he says.
Pauline Muindi (left), gender research associate with CIMMYT, acts as a mock agrodealer clerk and attends a farmer. (Photo: CIMMYT)
The hybrid maize seed sector in Kenya is highly competitive. Amid intensifying competition, new varieties face a daunting task breaking into the market, independent of their quality. While farmers now have more options to pick from, a major challenge has been how to get them to adopt new varieties.
âMoving farmers from something they know to something they donât is not easy. They tend to stick with what they know and have been growing for years,â Rutsaert says.
Pauline Muindi, gender research associate with CIMMYT, acted as the stand-in clerk at the mock store. She noticed that farmers tend to spend very little time in the shop when their preferred variety is available. However, this all changes in the out-of-stock situation, pushing farmers to step out of their comfort zone and explore new options.
The first step to overcoming this challenge is to entice maize farmers to try a new seed variety, even just once, Rutsaert observes. If it is a good variety, farmers will see that and then the market will work in its favor: farmers will come back to that variety in subsequent years and tell others about it.
âThe good news is that many of the varieties we are currently seeing on the market have performed well â thatâs why theyâre popular. But there are newer varieties that are even better, especially in terms of attributes like drought tolerance. We would like to understand how farmers can be convinced to try out these newer varieties. Is it about the need for more awareness on varietal traits? Can we use price promotions? Or are there other factors?â he says.
A researcher interviews Mary Nzau (right), a farmer from Tala town in Machakos County, after her mock purchase. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)
Does seed price matter?
âWith todayâs climate uncertainty, it is better to stick to a variety that is adapted to such climate rather than banking on a variety one is oblivious of. The risk is not worth it,â Nzau says. She adds that she would rather buy a higher-priced seed packet she knows and trusts than a lower-priced one that she has not used in the past. Radio promotions of new or other varieties have limited sway over her decision to make the switch.
Faith Voni, another farmer, agrees. âIt is better to purchase a higher-priced variety whose quality I can vouch for than risk purchasing a lower-priced one that I know little about. I do not wish to take such a risk.â Voni says she would also be more inclined to experiment with another variety that she had seen perform well on a neighborâs farm.
Michael Mutua holds a different view. âIf there is an option of an equally good but new variety that is lower-priced than the variety I prefer, my wallet decides,â he says.
Vivian Hoffmann, an economist at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and collaborator on the study, says price can be key for convincing consumers to try a new product. âOur previous research on maize flour choice found that a provisional 10 percent discount boosted sales tremendously,â Hoffmann says. âOf course, that only gets your foot in the door; after that, a new variety will need to win farmers over based on its merits.â
Hoffmann is interested in the extent to which drawing farmersâ attention to key varietal attributes influences their seed choice. âThis information is generally already available on seed packets, but we live in a world of information overload. Promoting certain attributes through in-store signage is an approach that is widely used to help consumers make more healthier food choices. Doing the same for new seed varieties makes a lot of sense.â
Michael Mutua (left) responds to preliminary questions from one of the research team members before proceeding to make his seed selection at the mock agrodealer shop. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)
The value of drought tolerance
Situated on Kenyaâs eastern region, Machakos is characterized by persistent water stress. Climate change induced erratic rainfall has pushed traits that can tolerate the unfavorable weather conditions in the favoriteâs corner. While other traits such as high yield and disease resistance are equally important, the seed, when planted, must first withstand the effects of droughts or water stress in some seasons and germinate. This is the most crucial step in the long journey to either a decent, bare minimum or no yield. A lot of farmers still plant recycled seed alongside hybrid varieties. But these are no match to water stress conditions, which decimate fields planted with farmer-saved seed.
âIf a variety is not climate resilient, I will likely not harvest anything at all,” says Nzau. She has planted a drought-tolerant variety for ten years now. Prior to that, she had planted about three other varieties as well as recycled seed. âThe only advantage with recycled seed is that given the right amount of rainfall, they mature fast â typically within two months. This provides my family with an opportunity to eat boiled or roast maize,â she notes.
However, varieties need to do more than just survive harsh weather conditions. Breeders face a daunting task of incorporating as many traits as possible to cater to the overarching and the specific interests of multiple farmers. As Murenga Mwimali, a maize breeder at the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) and collaborator in this research says, innovations in breeding technologies are making breeding more efficient.
âIt is better to have a diversity of product profiles as different market niches are captured within a particular agroecological zones. This is such that farmers may not just benefit from the minimum traits like drought tolerance, but also more specific traits they are looking for,â Mwimali says.
Smallholder farmers continue to play a central role in the seed development process. Capturing what happens at the point of purchase, for instance, at the agrodealer, and understanding how they purchase seed offers valuable insights on the traits that are deemed essential in the breeding process. This work contributes to CIMMYTâs focus on fast-tracking varietal turnover by turning the levers towards a demand-driven seed system.
Cover photo: Pauline Muindi, gender research associate with CIMMYT, at the mock agrodealer shop where she acted as a clerk. (Photo: CIMMYT)
A shop attendant displays drought-tolerant maize seed at the Dryland Seed Company shop in Machakos, Kenya. (Photo: Florence Sipalla/CIMMYT)
For several decades, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) has worked with partners and farmers to improve maize and wheat varieties. Packed with âupgradesâ such as tolerance to environmental stresses, tolerance to diseases and pests, boosted nutrient content, higher yield potential and storage capabilities, and improved efficiency in using water and fertilizers, these seeds are rolled out by CIMMYT and its partners to create new opportunities for easier and better lives for farmers.
Together with national research partners, farmers, local governments and seed companies, CIMMYTâs work in seed systems has reaped results. Its experts are eager to put this experience into further action as CGIAR embarks on the next ten years of its journey to transform food, land, and water systems in a climate crisis. And rightly so: investments in CGIAR research â mainly through their contributions to enhancing yields of staple food crops â have returned ten-fold benefits and payoffs for poor people in terms of greater food abundance, lower prices of food, reduced food insecurity and poverty and reduced geographical footprint of agriculture. A large part of this impact is the result of CIMMYTâs day to day efforts to create a better world.
A Bangladeshi woman cuts up feed for her family’s livestock. They did not previously have animals, but were able to buy them after her husband, Gopal Mohanta, attended a farmer training from CIMMYT and its partners, which gave him access to better seed, technologies, and practices. Mohanta planted a wider range of crops, and in 2005 he planted maize for the first time, using improved seed based on CIMMYT materials. (Photo: S. Mojumder/Drik/CIMMYT)
Replacing old varieties, not as easy as it sounds
Slow variety turnover â that of more than ten years â makes farmers vulnerable to risks such as climate change and emerging biotic threats. On the other hand, planting improved varieties that match farmersâ needs and the geography they work in, can increase productivity gains and improve the nutritional status of smallholders and their families. This, in turn, contributes to increased household incomes. Indirectly, the benefits can reach the surrounding community by providing increased employment opportunities, wage increases and affordable access to food.
Despite its tremendous benefits, varietal turnover is no small feat.
When it comes to seeds, detailed multi-disciplinary research is behind every new variety and its deployment to farmers. Just as the production of a new snack, beverage or a car requires an in-depth study of what the customer wants, seed systems also must be demand-driven.
Socioeconomists have to work hand-in-hand with breeders and seed system specialists to understand the drivers and bottlenecks for improved varietal adoption, market needs, and gender and social inclusion in seed delivery. Bottlenecks include the lack of access by farmers â especially for resource-poor, socially-excluded ones â to reliable information about the advantages of new varieties. Even if farmers are aware of new varieties, seeds might not be available for sale where they live or they might be too expensive.
Possibly the most complex reason for slow variety turnover is risk vulnerability: some farmers simply canât afford to take the risk of investing in something that might be good but could also disappoint. At the same time, seed companies also perceive a certain risk: they might not be interested in taking on an improved variety that trumps the seeds from older but more popular varieties they have on stock. For them, building and marketing a new brand of seeds requires significant investments.
Agricultural seed on sale by a vendor near Islamabad, Pakistan. For improved crop varieties to reach farmers, they usually must first reach local vendors like these, who form an essential link in the chain between researchers, seed producers and farmers. (Photo: M. DeFreese/CIMMYT)
New approaches are yielding results
Despite the complexity of the challenge, CIMMYT has been making progress, especially in Africa where slow variety turnover is creating roadblocks for increased food security and poverty alleviation.
Recent analysis of the weighted average age of CIMMYT-related improved maize varieties in 8 countries across eastern and southern Africa reveals that the overall weighted average age has decreased from 14.6 years in 2013 to 10.2 years in 2020. The remarkable progress in accelerating the rate of variety turnover and deploying the improved genetics â with climate resilience, nutritional-enhancement and grain yield â are benefiting more than eight million smallholders in Africa.
In Ethiopia, CIMMYT, EIAR and ICARDAâs work led to the adoption of improved rust-resistant varieties, corresponding productivity gains and economic benefits that, besides the urgent need to fight against the damaging rust epidemic, depended on a combination of enabling factors: pre-release seed multiplication, pro-active policies and rust awareness campaigns. The estimated income gain that farmers enjoyed due to adopting post-2010 varieties in 2016/2017 reached $48 million. For the country itself, the adoption of these varieties could save $65 million that otherwise would be spent on wheat imports.
Bill Gates echoes this in Chapter 9 of his new climate book, How to Avoid a Climate Disaster, as he describes CIMMYT and IITAâs drought-tolerant maize work: â[âŠ] experts at CGIAR developed dozens of new maize varieties that could withstand drought conditions, each adapted to grow in specific regions of Africa. At first, many smallholder farmers were afraid to try new crop varieties. Understandably so. If youâre eking out a living, you wonât be eager to take a risk on seeds youâve never planted before, because if they die, you have nothing to fall back on. But as experts worked with local farmers and seed dealers to explain the benefits of these new varieties, more and more people adopted them.â
Bidasem director general MarĂa Ester Rivas (center) stands for a photo with her seed processing team. Bidasem is a small seed company based in the city of Celaya in the central Mexican plains region known as the BajĂo. Despite their small size, Bidasem and similar companies play an important role in reaching small farmers with improved seed that offers them better livelihoods. (Photo: X. Fonseca/CIMMYT)
Holistic action needed if we are to reach farmers with genetic innovations
Now more than ever, with increased frequency and intensification of erratic weather events on top of the complications of the COVID-19 pandemic, successful seed systems require the right investments, partnerships, efforts across disciplines, and enabling policies.
Varietal release and dissemination systems rely greatly on appropriate government policies and adoption of progressive seed laws and regulations. CGIARâs commitment to farmers and the success of national seed systems is described in the recently launched 10-year strategy: âCGIAR will support effective seed systems by helping national governments and private sector companies and regulators build their capacities to play their roles successfully. New initiatives will be jointly designed along the seed distribution chain, including for regional seed registration, import and export procedures, efficient in-country trialing, registration and release of new varieties, and seed quality promotion through fit-for-purpose certification.â
In line with CGIARâs ambitious goals, to provide farmers with a better service, small- and medium-size seed companies need to also be strengthened to become more market-oriented and dynamic. According to SPIA, helping local private seed dealers learn about new technology increases farm-level adoption by over 50% compared to the more commonly used approach, where public sector agricultural extension agents provide information about new seed to selected contact farmers.
CIMMYT socioeconomics and market experts are putting this in practice through working with agrodealers to develop retail strategies, such as targeted marketing materials, provision of in-store seed decision support and price incentives, to help both female and male farmers get the inputs that work best.
Within the new CGIAR, CIMMYT scientists will continue to work with partners to strongly improve the performance of wheat and maize in smallholder farmersâ fields. Concerted efforts from all actors conforming the entire seed system are essential to achieve our vision: to transform food systems for affordable, sufficient and healthy diets produced within planetary boundaries. Wheat and maize seed systems will form the basis to fulfill that vision and provide a tried and tested roadmap for other crops, including legumes, vegetables and fruits. Together, we can keep a finger on the pulse of farmersâ needs and build healthy diets for a better tomorrow from the ground up.
Agricultural market systems play a pivotal role in food security, livelihood development and economic growth. However, the agricultural sector in Nepal is constrained by a lack of spatially-explicit technologies and practices related to improved seed and fertilizer. Embracing these challenges, Dyutiman Choudhary, a scientist in market development with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), works to strengthen the seed and fertilizer market systems and value chains, with the ultimate goal to ensure demand-driven, inclusive and market-oriented cereal production.
Nepalâs agricultural sector is dominated by smallholder farmers. As farming is mostly semi-commercial and subsistence in nature, many smallholder farmers are isolated from markets and lack knowledge about the latest farming technologies and inputs. They are unable to upgrade their farms to increase productivity for generating marketable surplus to make profitable income. Agribusiness entities in Nepal â such as seed companies, agrodealers and importers â face market development challenges and lack the commercial and business orientation to develop and deliver new technologies to farmers. Output market linkages are weak and loosely integrated, leading to poor coordination, weak information flow and lower return to actors.
This is where Choudharyâs expertise in agribusiness management fits in to make a difference.
Born and raised in Shillong, a hill station in northeastern India with a distinctive charm, he was enrolled as an engineering student. However, his interest took a sudden turn when he got drawn towards biological sciences and ultimately decided to leave the engineering course by stepping into agribusiness management. âI realized I was walking in the right direction as I was fascinated to learn about the livelihood benefits of agroforestry and the scope of agribusiness in fostering overall economic growth.â
He joined CIMMYT in 2017 as an expert in market development, but his roles and responsibilities transitioned to working as a Lead for the Nepal Seed and Fertilizer (NSAF) project within four months of his appointment. His role involves leading an interdisciplinary team of scientists, partners and experts to develop a synergistic market system. The NSAF team fosters public private partnerships, improves access to support services and strengthens inclusive value chains in a supportive policy environment.
Choudharyâs research focuses on assessing crops, seed and fertilizer value chains; developing commercial and inclusive upgrading strategies with businesses and stakeholders; assessing competitiveness of seed companies; lobbying for policies to foster the growth of seed and fertilizer business; and building pathways for public and private sector services to market actors and smallholder farmers.
Dyutiman Choudhary (seventh from left) with seed producers during a field visit. (Photo: Dipak Kafle)
A roadmap to innovative market systems
Choudhary introduced the vision of a market system approach and put together a strategic roadmap in collaboration with a team from CIMMYT researchers from the Global Maize program, the Sustainable Intensification program and the Socioeconomics program. The roadmap addressed the concerns of low crop productivity, poor private sector growth and a less supportive policy environment inhibiting agricultural innovations in Nepal.
âSeed and fertilizer market systems in Nepal are uncompetitive and lack influx of new knowledge and innovations that restricts agriculture growth,â Choudhary explained.
Having prior experience as a regional lead for high-value products and value chains for South Asia and an inclusive market-oriented development expert in Eastern and Southern Africa, Choudhary carries unique capabilities for putting together a winning team and working with diverse partners to bring about a change in farming practices and build a strong agribusiness sector in Nepal.
Under his leadership, Nepalese seed companies are implementing innovative and competitive marketing approaches to develop newly acquired hybrid varieties under their brands. The companies are upgrading to build business models that cater to the growth of seed business, meet market demands and offer innovative services to smallholder farmers to build a sustainable national market. Facilitating financing opportunities has enabled these enterprises to produce strategic business plans to leverage $2 million to finance seed business. Improved value chain coordination mechanisms are increasing demand of seed companyâs products and enhancing smallholder farmersâ access to output markets.
There is a renewed interest and confidence beaming from the private sector to invest in fertilizer business due to improved knowledge, communication and collaborative methods. The government committed to support balanced soil fertility management and allocated $2.4 million in 2019 to initiate fertilizer blending in Nepal.
Dyutiman Choudhary (left) welcomes the Feed the Future team leader to the CIMMYT office in Nepal. (Photo: Bandana Pradhan/CIMMYT)
Dyutiman Choudhary shows a demonstration plot during a field visit with USAID and project partners in Nepal. (Photo: Darbin Joshi)
Dyutiman Choudhary (left) receives a token of appreciation at an International Seed Conference organized in Nepal. (Photo: Bandana Pradhan/CIMMYT)
Competitiveness fosters productivity
The results of Choudharyâs work have the potential to transform Nepalese agriculture by unleashing new investments, changes in policies and practices, and innovative business management practices. âDespite a huge change in my TOR and the challenges to deliver impactful outcomes, I was able to successfully steer the project to produce exciting results that made the donor to declare it as their flagship project in Nepal,â he explained. âAt the end of the day, reflecting upon the work achieved with my team and the stakeholders in co-creating solutions for complex issues brings me immense satisfaction.â
An amiable individual, he feels close to natural science and loves interacting with farmers. âIâve always enjoyed traveling to biodiversity-rich locations, to understand local cultures and livelihood practices, so as to gauge the drivers of innovation and adaptation to change among diverse rural populations.â
âKeeping up the momentum, I want to continue to support growth in agribusiness management in less favorable regions, helping stakeholders in the farm-to-fork continuum to leverage the potential of innovations in research, development and delivery.â
Data has become a key driver of growth and change in todayâs world.
There is growing recognition that data is indispensable for effective planning and decision-making in every sector. But the state of digital data in developing countries is far from satisfactory. In Asia, monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) remains a challenge due to a lack of accurate data.
Rural women in Nepal significantly contribute to food security, and when they are empowered, they can create avenues for agricultural growth. As seed producers are often disadvantaged in terms of accessing advanced agricultural knowledge and seed production skills, one opportunity for growth is strengthening the capacity of women seed producers.
âIn more than 80% of households in Sindhupalchowk district, women have the final say on the selection of maize variety,â said D.B. Bhandari, managing director of Hairyali Community Seed Company (HCSC). âThis urged me to engage women in seed production of preferred maize varieties for the mid-hills.â
HCSC, a partner company of the Nepal Seed and Fertilizer (NSAF) project implemented by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), is working to improve the business literacy of rural women to support their involvement in seed production and marketing of maize, wheat and rice seeds in Sindhupalchowk district, Bagmati province, Nepal.
Seed producers attend an orientation on the production and marketing of hybrid seed. (Photo: Dharma Dawadi/CIMMYT)
A path to empowerment and income
Access to agricultural inputs such as seed and fertilizer is challenging in Thulosirubari village due to its rural location and absence of agrodealers or nearby markets. Progressive farmers Parbati Gautam and Kamala Gautam, who grew up in the village in a family that has cultivated maize for generations and now grow maize, rice, millet and vegetables, found a solution. They decided to establish a cooperative âThulosirubari Mahila Krishi Sahakari Sanstha â that not only eases the supply of seed for farmers in their village but also engages in seed production. The cooperative has 45 female members so far.
In coordination with HCSC and the Government of Nepalâs Prime Minister Agriculture Modernization Project (PMAMP), orientation programs and women-only trainings were designed and organized by the NSAF project so farmers could boost their seed production efficiency and profitability at the grassroots level. The partnership between CIMMYT, HCSC and PMAMP provided technical and financial support to these groups, improved their entrepreneurship skills and business literacy, and created marketing linkages between the farmers and buyers. Thirty-five women were trained in the use of good agricultural practices in quality seed production and marketing of hybrid maize, rice and tomato seeds. HCSC supported the women with male and female lines of hybrid maize â Khumal hybrid-2 â to produce first generation seeds and build their skills on estimating ratios for sowing seeds, balanced fertilizer application, weeding, rouging and detasseling.
âI am so happy to learn about the importance of having different male and female lines and how to maintain their quality for crossing to produce first generation of hybrid maize seeds,â Kamala Gautam said.
After getting the required training and technical support, seven farmers from the cooperative, including Kamala and Parbati, collectively produced 1.1 mt of Khumal hybrid-2 with the value of $2,514, which was sold to HCSC in 2019. As the cooperative is a contract seed producer for HCSC, the women have market assurance and do not worry where and how to sell their seed.
âMy husband and I are not educated,â Parbati Gautam explained. âHowever, I was able to sell the hybrid maize seed then use the money to buy decent clothes and offer a better education to my two daughters and son.â
A woman stands in her rice seed production field in Nepal. (Photo: Mohan Mahato/CIMMYT)
Women empowering women
Parbati Gautam has served as chairperson at the cooperative for eight years, where she has mentored other seed producers. Based on her experience, women who have access to information and seed production technologies tend to have better crop yields and make informed decisions to increase their incomes and livelihoods.
According to Bhandari, farmersâ preferences are gradually shifting from local to hybrid varieties which offer better yields, early maturity and resilience to the effects of climate change. Parbati and Kamala Gautam confirm this, sharing that hybrid seed production provides 4-5 times more monetary value per kilogram of seed than that of grain.
âAlthough the cost of parent lines is expensive for seed production, improved farming technology ensures better quality seeds, higher yields and attractive farm business opportunities,â Parbati Gautam explained.
Since 2017, NSAF project researchers have been working to establish linkages with partner seed companies for seed marketing. Altogether, about 300 mt of maize and rice seed was produced by women farmers engaged in the project with the value of $112,000, and 80 percent of this seed was sold to three private seed companies including HCSC. In 2019, the NSAF project team established partnerships with an additional three cooperatives in Banke, Dang and Sindhupalchowk districts, where over 800 women are members.
The projectâs engagement of women’s seed producer groups is an example of an inclusive seed business model where farmers decide what to grow and how to sell. This intervention can be piloted in other parts of Nepal where women account for over 60 percent of the rural farming community. Targeted and sustained interventions to increase womenâs business agility, technical capacity in quality seed production, and market linkages will help boost productivity at household level and the country at large.
Seed systems are complex and dynamic, involving diverse, interdisciplinary actors. Women play an important role in the seed value chain, although underlying social and cultural norms can impact their equal participation. Gender-sensitive seed systems will create more opportunities for women and increase food security.
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) convened a multi-stakeholder technical workshop titled, âGender dynamics in seed systems in sub-Saharan Africa and worldwide lessonsâ on December 2, 2019, in Nairobi, Kenya. Researchers and development practitioners operating in the nexus of gender and seed systems shared lessons learned and research findings to identify knowledge gaps and exchange ideas on promising â and implementable â interventions and approaches that expand opportunities for women in the seed sector.
Amarech Desta (left) is the chairwoman of Tembo Awtena, a womensâ seed producer association in the Angacha district of Ethiopiaâs Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoplesâ Region (SNNP). As part of the Wheat Seed Scaling project, the group received early-generation seed and a seed thresher from CIMMYT. âIn 2016 we sold more than $7,400 worth of seed,â Desta said. âOur success attracted 30 additional women farmers in 2017, bringing the total membership to 133.â (Photo: Apollo Habtamu/CIMMYT)
High-yielding, disease-resistant wheat varieties used by Ethiopian wheat farmers between 2015 and 2018 gave them at least 20% more grain than conventional varieties, profits of nearly $1,000 per hectare when they grew and sold seed, and generally improved food security in participating rural households.
These are the result of a project to rapidly multiply and disperse high-quality seed of new improved varieties, and the work of leading Ethiopian and international research organizations. The outcomes of this project have benefitted nearly 1.6 million people, according to a comprehensive new publication.
âGrown chiefly by smallholders in Ethiopia, wheat supports the livelihoods of 5 million farmers and their families, both as a household food crop and a source of income,â said Bekele Abeyo, wheat scientist of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), leader of the project, and chief author of the new report. âImproving wheat productivity and production can generate significant income for farmers, as well as helping to reduce poverty and improve the countryâs food and nutrition security.â
Wheat production in Ethiopia is continually threatened by virulent and rapidly evolving fungal pathogens that cause âwheat rusts,â age-old and devastating diseases of the crop. Periodic, unpredictable outbreaks of stem and stripe rust have overcome the resistance of popular wheat varieties in recent years, rendering the varieties obsolete and in urgent need of replacement, according to Abeyo.
âThe eastern African highlands are a hot spot for rustsâ spread and evolution,â Abeyo explained. âA country-wide stripe rust epidemic in 2010 completely ruined some susceptible wheat crops in Oromia and Amhara regions, leaving small-scale, resource-poor farmers without food or income.â
The Wheat Seed Scaling project identified and developed new rust-resistant wheat varieties, championed the speedy multiplication of their seed, and used field demonstrations and strategic marketing to reach thousands of farmers in 54 districts of Ethiopiaâs major wheat growing regions, according to Abeyo. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded the project and the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) was a key partner.
Using parental seed produced by 8 research centers, a total of 27 private farms, farmer cooperative unions, model farmers and farmer seed producer associations â including several women farmer associations â grew 1,728 tons of seed of the new varieties for sale or distribution to farmers. As part of the work, 10 national research centers took part in fast-track variety testing, seed multiplication, demonstrations and training. The USDA Cereal Disease Lab at the University of Minnesota conducted seedling tests, molecular studies and rust race analyses.
A critical innovation has been to link farmer seed producers directly to state and federal researchers who supply the parental seed â known as âearly-generation seedââ according to Ayele Badebo, a CIMMYT wheat pathologist and co-author of the new publication. âThe project has also involved laboratories that monitor seed production and that test harvested seed, certifying it for marketing,â Badebo said, citing those accomplishments as lasting legacies of the project.
Abeyo said the project built on prior USAID-funded efforts, as well as the Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat (DRRW) and Delivering Genetic Gain in Wheat (DGGW) initiatives, led by Cornell University and supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the UK Department for International Development (DFID).
Protecting crops of wheat, a vital food in eastern Africa, requires the collaboration of farmers, governments and researchers, according to Mandefro Nigussie, Director General of EIAR.
âMore than 131,000 rural households directly benefited from this work,â he said. âThe project points up the need to identify new resistance genes, develop wheat varieties with durable, polygenic resistance, promote farmersâ use of a genetically diverse mix of varieties, and link farmers to better and profitable markets.â
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is the global leader in publicly-funded maize and wheat research and related farming systems. Headquartered near Mexico City, CIMMYT works with hundreds of partners throughout the developing world to sustainably increase the productivity of maize and wheat cropping systems, thus improving global food security and reducing poverty. CIMMYT is a member of the CGIAR System and leads the CGIAR Research Programs on Maize and Wheat and the Excellence in Breeding Platform. The Center receives support from national governments, foundations, development banks and other public and private agencies. For more information, visit staging.cimmyt.org.
