Tag: stress

Wheat leaves showing symptoms of heat stress. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Wheat versus heat

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on May 20, 2022. Posted in Blogs.

Across South Asia, including major wheat-producing regions of India and Pakistan, temperature extremes are threatening wheat production. Heatwaves have been reported throughout the region, with a century record for early onset of extreme heat. Monthly average temperatures across India for March and April 2022 exceeded those recorded over the past 100 years.

Widely recognized as one of the major breadbaskets of the world, the Indo-Gangetic Plains region produces over 100 million tons of wheat annually, from 30 million hectares in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan, primarily supporting large domestic demand.

The optimal window for wheat planting is the first half of November. The late onset of the 2021 summer monsoon delayed rice planting and its subsequent harvest in the fall. This had a knock-on effect, delaying wheat planting by one to two weeks and increasing the risk of late season heat stress in March and April. Record-high temperatures over 40⁰C were observed on several days in March 2022 in the Punjabs of India and Pakistan as well as in the state of Haryana, causing wheat to mature about two weeks earlier than usual.

In-season changes and effects

Prior to the onset of extreme heat, the weather in the current season in India was favorable, prompting the Government of India to predict a record-high wheat harvest of 111 million tons. The March heat stress was unexpected and appears to have had a significant effect on the wheat crop, advancing the harvest and likely reducing yields.

Departure of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) during the period from March 22 to April 7 from the average of the previous five years. The NDVI is a measure of the leaf area and the greenness of vegetation. The yellow areas in the Punjabs of India and Pakistan, as well as in the state of Haryana, indicate that wheat matured earlier than normal due to elevated temperatures. Maximum temperatures reached 40⁰C on March 15 and remained at or above this level throughout the wheat harvesting period. (Map: Urs Schulthess/CIMMYT).

In the North-Western Plains, the major wheat basket of India, the area of late-sown wheat is likely to have been most affected even though many varieties carry heat tolerance. Data from CIMMYT’s on-farm experiments show a yield loss between 15 to 20% in that region. The states of Haryana and Punjab together contribute almost 30% of India’s total wheat production and notably contribute over 60% of the government’s buffer stocks. In the North-Eastern Plains, in the states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, around 40% of the wheat crop was normal or even early sown, escaping heat damage, whilst the remainder of late-sown wheat is likely to be impacted at a variable level, as most of the crop in this zone matures during the third and fourth week of March.

The Government of India has now revised wheat production estimates, with a reduction of 5.7%, to 105 million tons because of the early onset of summer.

India has reported record yields for the past 5 years, helping it to meet its goal of creating a reserve stock of 40 million tons of wheat after the 2021 harvest. It went into this harvest season with a stock of 19 million tons, and the country is in a good position to face this year’s yield loss.

In Pakistan, using satellite-based crop monitoring systems, the national space agency Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SPARCO) estimated wheat production reduction close to 10%: 26 million tons, compared to the production target of 29 million tons, for the 2021-22 season.

Rural and farming health impacts

Alongside a direct negative impact on agricultural productivity, the extreme temperatures in South Asia are likely to have negative health implications for the large rural labor force involved in wheat production. There is a growing body of evidence documenting declining health status in the agricultural workforce in areas of frequent temperature extremes. This also adds to the substantial human and environmental health concerns linked to residue burning.

We recommend that systematic research be urgently undertaken to characterize and understand the impacts of elevated temperatures on the health of field-based workers involved in wheat production. This is needed to develop a holistic strategy for adapting our global cropping systems to climate change.

Amplifying wheat supply risks

Combined with the wheat supply and price impacts of the current conflict in Ukraine and trade restrictions on Russian commodities, these further impacts on the global wheat supply are deeply troubling.

India had pledged to provide increased wheat exports to bolster global supplies, but this now looks uncertain given the necessity to safeguard domestic supplies. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Indian government supported domestic food security by providing free rations — mainly wheat and rice — to 800 million people over several months. This type of support relies on the availability of large buffer stocks which appear stable, but may be reduced if grain production and subsequent procurement levels are lower than desired.

We are already seeing indications of reduced procurement by governments with market prices running higher than usual. However, although the Food Corporation of India has procured 27% less wheat grain in the first 20 days of the wheat procurement season compared to the same period last year, the Government of India is confident about securing sufficient wheat buffer stocks.

As with the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, it is likely that the most marked effects of both climate change and shortages of staple crops will hit the poorest and most vulnerable communities hardest.

A chain reaction of climate impacts

The real impacts of reduced wheat production due to extreme temperatures in South Asia demonstrate the realities of the climate emergency facing wheat and agricultural production. Direct impacts on farming community health must also be considered, as our agricultural workforce is pushed to new physical limits.

Anomalies, which are likely to become the new normal, can set off a chain reaction as seen here: the late onset of the summer monsoon caused delays in the sowing of rice and the subsequent wheat crop. The delayed wheat crop was hit by the unprecedented heatwave in mid- to late March at a relatively earlier stage, thus causing even more damage.

Preparing for wheat production tipping points

Urgent action is required to develop applied mitigation and adaptation strategies, as well as to plan for transition and tipping points when key staple crops such as wheat can no longer be grown in traditional production regions.

A strategic design process is needed, supported by crop and climate models, to develop and test packages of applied solutions for near-future climate changes. On-farm evidence from many farmers’ fields in Northwestern India indicates that bundled solutions — no-till direct seeding with surface retention of crop residues coupled with early seeding of adapted varieties of wheat with juvenile heat tolerance — can help to buffer terminal heat stress and limit yield losses.

Last but not least, breeding wheat for high-temperature tolerance will continue to be crucial for securing production. Strategic planning needs to also encompass the associated social, market and political elements which underpin equitable food supply and stability.

Download the pre-print:
Wheat vs. Heat: Current temperature extremes threaten wheat production in South Asia

Usman Kadir and his family de-husk maize on their farm in Ethiopia. (Photo: Apollo Habtamu/ILRI)

Faster results at a lower cost

Written by Emma Orchardson on November 19, 2020. Posted in Blogs.

The current COVID-19 pandemic — and associated measures to reduce its spread — is projected to increase extreme poverty by 20%, with the largest increase in sub-Saharan Africa, where 80 million more people would join the ranks of the extreme poor. Accelerating the process of delivering high-quality, climate resilient and nutritionally enriched maize seed is now more critical than ever.However, developing these varieties is not a rapid or cheap process. Over the course of five years, researchers on the Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) project developed a range of tools and technologies to reduce the overall cost of producing a new high yielding, stress tolerant hybrids for smallholder farmers in the region.

Maize breeding starts with crossing two parents and essentially ends after testing their great-great-great-great grandchildren in as many locations as possible. This allows plant breeders to identify the new varieties which will perform well in the conditions faced by their target beneficiaries — in the case of STMA, smallholder farmers in Africa. In other parts of the world, new tools and technologies are routinely added to breeding programs to help reduce the cost and time it takes to produce new varieties.

Scientists on the STMA project focused on testing and scaling new tools specifically for maize breeding programs in sub-Saharan Africa and began by taking a closer look at the most expensive part of the breeding process: phenotyping or collecting precise information on plant traits.

“Within a breeding program, phenotyping is the single most costly step,” explains CIMMYT molecular breeder Manje Gowda. “Molecular technologies provide opportunities to reduce this cost.” The research team tested two methods to speed up this step and make it more cost efficient: forward breeding and genomic selection.

Speeding up a long and costly process

Two important traits maize breeders look for in their plant progeny are susceptibility for two key maize diseases: maize streak virus (MSV) and maize lethal necrosis (MLN). In traditional breeding, breeders must extensively test lines in the field for their susceptibility to these diseases, and then remove them before the next round of crossing. This carries a significant cost.

Using a process called forward breeding, scientists can screen for DNA markers known to be associated with susceptibility to these diseases. This allows breeders to identify lines vulnerable to these diseases and remove them before field testing.

Scientists on the STMA project applied this approach in CIMMYT breeding programs in eastern and southern Africa over the past four years, saving an estimated $300,000 in field costs. Under the AGG project, research will now focus on applying forward breeding to identify susceptibility for another fast-spreading maize pest, fall armyworm, as well as extending use of this method in partners’ breeding programs.

A CIMMYT research associate inspects maize damaged by fall army worm at KALRO Kiboko Research Station in Kenya. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)

Forward breeding is ideal for “simple” traits which are controlled by a few genes. However, other desired traits, such as tolerance to drought and low nitrogen stress, are genetically complex. Many genes control these traits, with each gene only contributing a little towards overall stress tolerance.

In this case, a technology called genomic selection can be of service. Genomic selection estimates the performance, or breeding value, of a line based largely on genetic information. Genomic selection uses more than 5,000 DNA markers, without the need for precise information about what traits these markers control. The method is ideal for complicated traits such as drought and low nitrogen stress tolerance, where hundreds of small effect genes together largely control how a plant grows under these stresses.

CIMMYT scientists used this technology to select and advance lines for drought tolerance. They then tested these lines and compared their performance in the field to lines selected conventionally. They found that the two sets of resulting hybrid varieties — those advanced using genomic selection and those advanced in the field — showed the same grain yield under drought stress. However, genomic selection only required phenotyping half the lines, achieving the same outcome with half the budget.

Innovations in the field

While DNA technology is reducing the need for extensive field phenotyping, research is also underway to reduce the cost of the remaining necessary phenotyping in the field.

Typically, many traits — such as plant height or leaf drying under drought stress — are measured by hand, using the labor of large teams of people. For example, plant and ear height is traditionally measured by a team of two using a meter stick.

Mainasarra Zaman-Allah, a CIMMYT abiotic stress phenotyping specialist based in Zimbabwe, has been developing faster, more accurate ways to measure these traits. He implemented the use of a small laser sensor to measure plant and ear height which only requires one person. This simple yet cost effective tool has reduced the cost of measuring these traits by almost 60%. Similarly, using a UAV-based platform has reduced the cost of measuring a trait known as canopy senescence — leaf drying associated with drought susceptibility —by over 65%.

The identification of plants which are tolerant to key diseases has traditionally involved scoring the severity of disease in each plot visually, but walking through hundreds of plots daily can lead to errors in human judgement. To combat this, CIMMYT biotic stress phenotyping specialist LM Suresh collaborated with Jose Luis Araus and Shawn Kefauver, scientists at the University of Barcelona, Spain, to develop image analysis software that can quantify disease severity, thereby avoiding problems associated with unintentional human bias.

Plant breeders need uniform, or homozygous, lines for selection. With conventional plant breeding this is difficult: no matter how many times you cross a line, a small amount of DNA will remain heterozygous — having two different alleles of a particular gene — and reduce accuracy in line selection.

A technology called doubled haploid allows breeders to develop homozygous lines within two seasons. While this technology has been used in temperate maize breeding programs since the 1990s, it was not available for tropical environments until 10 years ago. In 2013, thanks to joint work with Kenyan partners at the CIMMYT Doubled Haploid facility in Kiboko, this technology was made available to African breeding programs. Now Vijay Chaikam, a CIMMYT doubled haploid specialist based in Kenya, is working towards reducing the cost of this technology as well.

The efforts begun by the STMA research team is now continuing under the Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat for Improved Livelihoods (AGG) project. As this work is carried forward, the next crucial step is ensuring that the next generation of African maize breeders have access to these technologies and tools.

“Improving national breeding programs will really drive success in raising maize yields in the stress prone environments faced by many farmers in our target countries,” says Mike Olsen, CIMMYT’s upstream trait pipeline coordinator. Under AGG, in collaboration with the CGIAR Excellence in Breeding Program, these tools will be scaled out.

CIMMYT researcher Demewoz Negera at the Ambo Research Center in Ethiopia. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)

Collaborating to accelerate genetic gains in maize and wheat

Written by Marta Millere on September 11, 2020. Posted in Features.

Stakeholders in the Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat for Improved Livelihoods (AGG) project have pledged to strengthen efforts to deliver desirable stress tolerant, nutritious and high-yielding maize and wheat varieties to smallholder farmers in a much shorter time. The alliance, comprising funders, national agricultural research systems (NARS), private seed companies, non-governmental organizations, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and, for the maize component the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), made these assurances during virtual events held in July and August 2020, marking the inception of the 5-year AGG project.

The initiative seeks to fast-track the development of higher-yielding, climate resilient, demand-driven, gender-responsive and nutritious seed varieties for maize and wheat, two of the world’s most important staple crops. The project is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR).

Tackling current and emerging threats

Jeff Rosichan, scientific program director of the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research (FFAR), acknowledged the significant and ambitious aim of the project in tackling the challenges facing maize and wheat currently and in the future. “We are seeing the emergence of new pests and pathogens and viral diseases like never before. A lot of the work of this project is going to help us to tackle such challenges and to be better prepared to tackle emerging threats,” he said.

AGG builds on gains made in previous initiatives including Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA), Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS), Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA), Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) and Delivering Genetic Gain in Wheat (DGGW), with support from partners in 17 target countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and South Asia.

Hailu Wordofa, agricultural technology specialist at the USAID Bureau for Resilience and Food Security, underscored his expectation for CIMMYT’s global breeding program to use optimal breeding approaches and develop strong collaborative relationships with NARS partners, “from the development of product profiles to breeding, field trials and line advancement.”

Similarly, Gary Atlin, senior program officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation lauded the move toward stronger partnerships and greater emphasis on the CIMMYT and IITA breeding programs. “The technical capacity of partners has increased through the years. It is prudent to ensure that national partnerships continue. It is always a challenging environment, this time multiplied by the COVID-19 crisis, but through this collaboration, there is a greater scope to strengthen such partnerships even more,” he said.

Anne Wangui, Maize Seed Health Technician, demonstrates how to test maize plants for maize dwarf mosaic virus (MDMV). (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

Symbiotic partnerships with great impact

“From the NARS perspective, we are committed to doing our part as primary partners to deliver the right seed to the farmers,” said Godfrey Asea, director of the National Crops Resources Research Institute at the National Agriculture Research Organization (NARO), Uganda. “We see an opportunity to review and to use a lot of previous historical data, both in-country and regionally and to continue making improved decisions. We also reiterate our commitment and support to continuously make improvement plans in our breeding programs.”

Martin Kropff, director general of CIMMYT, recognized the tremendous impact arising from the longstanding cooperation between CIMMYT’s maize and wheat programs and national programs in countries where CIMMYT works. “A wheat study in Ethiopia showed that 90% of all the wheat grown in the country is CIMMYT-related, while an impact study for the maize program shows that 50% of the maize varieties in Africa are CIMMYT-derived. We are very proud of that – not for ourselves but for the people that we work for, the hundreds of millions of poor people and smallholder farmers who really rely on wheat and maize for their living and for their incomes,” he said.

Founder and Chief Executive Officer of East Africa-based Western Seed Company Saleem Esmail expressed optimism at the opportunities the project offers to improve livelihoods of beneficiaries. “I believe we can do this by sharing experiences and by leveraging on the impacts that this project is going to bring, from new technologies to new science approaches, particularly those that help save costs of seed production.”

He, however, observed that while the target of fast-tracking varietal turnover was great, it was a tough call, too, “because farmers are very risk averse and to change their habits requires a great deal of effort.”

On his part, director of Crop Research at the Oromia Agricultural Research Institute (OARI) in Ethiopia Tesfaye Letta revealed that from collaborative research work undertaken with CIMMYT, the institute has had access to better-quality varieties especially for wheat (bread and durum). These have helped millions of farmers to improve their productivity even as Ethiopia aims for wheat self-sufficiency by expanding wheat production under irrigation.

“We expect more support, from identifying wheat germplasm suitable for irrigation, developing disease resistant varieties and multiplying a sufficient quantity of early generation seed, to applying appropriate agronomic practices for yield improvement and organizing exposure field visits for farmers and experts,” he said.

Challenges and opportunities in a time of crisis

Alan Tollervey, head of agriculture research at Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the UK representative to the CGIAR System Council, emphasized the need for continued investment in agricultural research to build a resilient food system that can cope with the demands and pressures of the coming decades. This way, organizations such as CIMMYT and its partners can adequately deliver products that are relevant not only to the immediate demands of poor farmers in developing countries – and the global demand for food generally – but also to address foreseen threats.

“We are at a time of intense pressure on budgets, and that is when projects are most successful, most relevant to the objectives of any organization, and most able to demonstrate a track record of delivery. CIMMYT has a long track history of being able to respond to rapidly emerging threats,” he said.

Felister Makini, the deputy director general for crops at the Kenya Agricultural Research Organization (KALRO) lauded the fact that AGG not only brings together maize and wheat breeding and optimization tools and technologies, but also considers gender and socioeconomic insights, “which will be crucial to our envisioned strategy to achieve socioeconomic change.”

Zambia Agriculture Research Organization (ZARI) maize breeder Mwansa Kabamba noted that the inclusion of extension workers will help to get buy-in from farmers especially as far as helping with adoption of the improved varieties is concerned.

In its lifecycle, the AGG project aims to reduce the breeding cycles for both maize and wheat from 5-7 years currently to 3-4 years. By 2024, at least 150,000 metric tons of certified maize seed is expected to be produced, adopted by 10 million households, planted on 6 million hectares and benefit 64 million people. It also seeks to serve over 30 million households engaged in wheat farming the target countries.

Cover photo: CIMMYT researcher Demewoz Negera at the Ambo Research Center in Ethiopia. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)

Drought tolerant maize route out of poverty for community-based seed producer, Kenya. (Photo: Anne Wangalachi/CIMMYT)

New project to ramp up genetic gains in maize for better livelihoods

Written by Alison Doody on July 28, 2020. Posted in News.

As plant pests and diseases continue to evolve, with stresses like drought and heat intensifying, a major priority for breeders and partners is developing better stress tolerant and higher yielding varieties faster and more cost effectively.

A new project, Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat for Improved Livelihoods (AGG), seeks to achieve these results by speeding up genetic gains in maize and wheat breeding to deliver improved, stress resilient, nutritious seed to smallholders in 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and four in South Asia. The 5-year AGG project is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR).

The maize component of the project brings together diverse partners, including the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) as co-implementers; national agricultural research systems (NARS); and small and medium-sized (SME) seed companies.

Ambitious targets

At the inception meeting of the maize component of AGG on July 10, 2020, project leaders, partners and funders lauded the ambitious targets that aim to bolster the resilience and better the livelihoods, food and nutritional security of millions of smallholder farmers in SSA. At least 150,000 metric tons of certified seed is expected to be produced, adopted by 10 million households, planted on 6 million hectares by 2024 and benefiting 64 million people.

“We are developing climate resilient, nutritious, efficient, productive maize varieties for the farming community in sub-Saharan Africa. We will continue to work closely with our partners to develop product profiles, which are centered on the varieties that are really needed,” said CIMMYT Interim Deputy Director for Research Kevin Pixley.

AGG draws a solid foundation from previous projects such as Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA), Improved Maize for Africa Soils (IMAS), Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) and Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA). Several high-yielding maize varieties that tolerate and/or resist diseases such as maize lethal necrosis (MLN), gray leaf spot (GLS), northern corn leaf blight, maize streak virus (MSV), turcicum leaf blight (TLB) and are drought-tolerant (DT), were developed and released to farmers across SSA. Varieties with nutritional traits such as nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and quality protein maize (QPM) were also developed in the preceding initiatives.

Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project monitoring and evaluation takes place in Tanzania. (Photo: Florence Sipalla/CIMMYT)

A matter of “life or death”

“When farmers are confronted by aggressive farming challenges, they want products that address those challenges at the earliest opportunity. Waiting for years could mean the difference between life and death,” remarked David Chikoye, the director of Southern Africa Hub at IITA.

A key focus of AGG is to incorporate gender-intentionality – special attention to the needs of women farmers and consumers – from the traits bred into new varieties, through the communication and technology deployment strategies.

“AGG provides an excellent opportunity to reorient our maize breeding, seed scaling and delivery strategies for greater impact on the livelihoods of smallholder farmers, especially women and the disadvantaged communities that are not well reached so far,” said B.M. Prasanna, director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program and the CGIAR Research Program on Maize. “Our vision is to accelerate genetic gains to 1.5-2 percent annually across different breeding pipelines in the 13 participating countries in SSA and to reach over 10 million households with improved varieties.”

AGG will strengthen the capacity of partners to achieve and sustain accelerated variety replacement — or turnover — and increase genetic gains in farmers’ fields.

Old vs new

Many improved varieties have been released in the past decade. However, the turnover of old and obsolete varieties with new and improved ones is not happening as quickly as anticipated.

“We are producing good products and getting them out, but not at the speed that farmers need. How do we make it possible and profitable for seed companies to quickly introduce new hybrids?” posed Gary Atlin, program officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “We need to move towards a breeding and seed system where we know that we can develop a new product in 4 or 5 years and then get it to the farmers much more quickly. This is a complex problem.”

To enhance AGG’s ability to identify new products that perform well for farmers under their challenging circumstances, on-farm testing will be scaled up significantly.

Guest of honor, Ethiopia’s Minister of State for Agriculture Mandefro Nigussie, lauded CIMMYT’s support in improving the resilience and productivity of maize and wheat in the country. He observed that this has helped improve maize productivity in Ethiopia from around 2 tons/ha to about 4 tons/ha over the past two decades.

“We consider such a huge accomplishment as a combination of efforts in germplasm development and breeding efforts of CIMMYT and the Ethiopian national programs. That partnership will flourish further in this new project,” he said.

A seed company representative explains to farmers the merits of the variety on this plot. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

Seeing is believing

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on April 3, 2020. Posted in Features.

Nancy Wawira strolls through a small plot of maize at Kithimu, in Kenya’s Embu County. She is charmed by the attributes of a maize variety that can yield 2,700kg per acre or more. The variety can endure drought-like conditions, matures in less than 120 days and has potential for double-cobbing.

Wawira is visiting a demonstration farm to witness the performance of several high yielding, early to medium maturing, drought-tolerant maize varieties.

By coming to this demonstration farm, Wawira hoped to identify a newer maize variety she could plant on her quarter-acre of land to get higher yield. The plot she stood on was the exact replica of what she was looking for. “Occasions such as this field day are very important for me and I always endeavor to attend them, as there is always something new to see or learn,” she says.

On her farm, she has been planting one of the old but popular commercial varieties suitable for this mid-altitude ecology. She normally harvests 4 bags of maize, of 90kg each, every season. However, if there is not enough rain or if there are pests or diseases, which is often the case, she harvests just 2 bags or less. This is hardly enough to meet her family’s food requirements for the year.

Switching to the maize variety she was interested in, and applying recommended farming practices, she could harvest 6 bags per season or more.

“Today, I have learnt how to improve my farming,” says Wawira. “Even when I access the variety that is high yielding, drought-tolerant and can mature in about three and a half months, as I witnessed on one of the plots, I still need to pay attention to proper crop husbandry related to spacing, timing of the planting, seed, fertilizer and pesticide application besides weed control,” she says.

Nancy Wawira examines maize in one of the demo plots. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

Made-to-order

Wawira was one of the more than 400 farmers from nearby Manyatta sub-county visiting the demonstration farm on February 7, 2020. They were able to see varieties and learn about their traits, invited by the Seed Trade Association of Kenya (STAK) with the support of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

The demonstration is a continuation of the work started under the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa Seed Scaling (DTMASS) project and later under the Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) project.

Officials from Embu County, led by its minister in charge of agriculture Jamleck Muturi, were present during the farmers’ visit. Ten seed firms, some of which use CIMMYT’s germplasm for seed propagation and marketing, participated as well.

“Several of our member seed companies are showcasing the varieties developed through CIMMYT’s breeding pipeline,” said Duncan Ochieng’, the chief executive officer of STAK. “The maize varieties showcased on these demo farms were designed to be drought-tolerant, high yielding and range from early to medium maturing. These varieties are juxta-posted with other commercial varieties suitable for this region.”

During visits to demonstration farms, farmers give feedback on their variety preferences. Seed companies can then align their breeding, germplasm-access requests, seed production or marketing plans with farmers’ expectations.

Some of the farmers who participated in the field day in Embu County, Kenya. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

Jackline Wanja in one of the demo plots of the variety she liked. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

A seed company representative shows seeds to a farmer during the visit to the demonstration farm. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

STAK chief executive officer Duncan Ochieng’ examines a maize cob in one of the demo plots. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

Dire traits

Farming stresses such as pests, diseases, heat and drought have made targeted breeding a critical necessity.

Young farmers are increasingly choosing varieties that can mature faster, typically in less than three months. They also favor varieties that offer higher yield than the popular commercial varieties, many of which have been on the market for at least a decade. Other sought-after traits are good performance in low or erratic rains, tolerance to maize lethal necrosis, reduced lodging, and efficiency in nitrogen use.

Jackline Wanja, 25, relies on her one-acre farm for survival. “On average, I harvest about 25 bags per acre. On the demo farm, I got to know of a variety than can yield at least 30 bags per acre. I also learnt that the variety is not only drought-resilient but can also mature in about three and a half months. This is the variety that I plan to plant my farm next season,” Wanja said.

For John Njiru, 52, a higher-yielding variety with a lot of foliage, which remains green even after the maize cob has dried, is what he came looking for. For this farmer with 12 acres of land, the green maize foliage is a significant source of income when sold to livestock keepers. Njiru feeds his own livestock with it, making substantial savings on animal feed expenditure. “If this variety is as high yielding as I have been made to understand and can offer me at least 30 bags per acre, I would be a happy farmer. My farming would be very profitable,” he says.

John Njiru on a demo plot of the variety he liked. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

District agricultural officers listen to feedback from a maize farmer who grows MRM4070 in drought conditions. (Photo: UAS-R)

Stress-resilient maize, a big relief for Indian farmers

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on November 21, 2019. Posted in News.

District agricultural officers listen to feedback from a maize farmer who grows MHM4070 in drought conditions. (Photo: UAS-R)

Small-scale maize farmers beset by erratic rainfall in the state of Karnataka, India, who adopted a new, drought- and heat-tolerant maize hybrid are harvesting nearly 1 ton more of grain per hectare than neighboring farmers who sow other maize varieties.

The climate-resilient hybrid RCRMH2 was developed in 2015 by the University of Agriculture Sciences, Raichur (UAS-R), Karnataka, as part of the Heat Tolerant Maize for Asia (HTMA) project. It was marketed in 2018 under the commercial name MRM4070 by Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company (Mahyco) in hot and dry areas of Karnataka, where crops are watered exclusively by rainfall.

“This hybrid is made for our stress-prone areas, as it gives guaranteed yields in a bad year and is inferior to none under good rainfall conditions,” said Hanumanthappa, a farmer and adopter of the variety in Gadag District. “In bad years, it can not only feed my family but also my cattle,” he added, referring to the hybrid’s “stay-green” trait, which allows use of the leaves and stems as green fodder for livestock, after harvesting the cobs.

A pack of MHM4070 seed marketed by Mahyco. — A pack of MRM4070 seed marketed by Mahyco.

Droughts and high temperatures are a recurring problem in Karnataka, but suitable maize varieties to protect yields and income loss in the state’s risk-prone agroecologies had been lacking.

Mahyco marketed some 60 tons of hybrid seed of MRM4070 in Karnataka in 2018 and, encouraged by the overwhelming response from farmers, increased the seed offering to 140 tons — enough to sow about 7,000 hectares.

A 2018-19 farmer survey in the contrasting Gadag District — with poor rainfall — and Dharwad District — good rainfall — found that farmers in Gadag who grew MRM4070 harvested 0.96 tons more grain and earned $190 additional income per hectare than neighbors who did not adopt the hybrid. In Dharwad under optimal rainfall, MRM4070 performed on a par with other commercial hybrids.

In addition to providing superior yields under stress, MRM4070 had larger kernels than other hybrids under drought conditions, bringing a better price for farmers who sell their grain.

Agriculture officers and scientists from the University of Agricultural Sciences observe the performance of MHM4070 in drought-stressed field in Gadag district of Karnataka, India. (Photo: UAS-R) — Agriculture officers and scientists from the University of Agricultural Sciences observe the performance of MRM4070 in drought-stressed field in Gadag district of Karnataka, India. (Photo: UAS-R)

Led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), in collaboration with national maize programs, agriculture universities, and seed companies, and with funding from the United State Agency for International Development (USAID) Feed the Future Initiative, HTMA was launched in 2012 to develop stress-resilient maize hybrids for the variable weather conditions and heat and drought extremes of Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan.

Dorine Akoth, a smallholder demo plot farmer in Gulu, northern Uganda, shows a maize plant on her plot on which she has planted several varieties that have passed through CIMMYT’s breeding pipeline. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

Seeds of hope

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on November 15, 2019. Posted in Features. 1 Comment on Seeds of hope

Seed of drought-tolerant maize developed through long-running global and local partnerships in Africa is improving nutrition and food security in northern Uganda, a region beset by conflicts and unpredictable rainfall.

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) has been working with Uganda’s National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) and local seed companies to develop and disseminate maize seed of improved stress-tolerant varieties. Under the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) and the Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) projects, farmers are now using varieties such as the UH5051 hybrid, known locally as Gagawala, meaning “get rich.”

For two decades, most of the population in northern Uganda has lived in internally displaced people’s camps and depended on food aid and other relief emergencies for their livelihoods due to the insurgency by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

Gulu, one of the affected districts, has been on a path to recovery for the past few years. With the prevailing peace, Geoffrey Ochieng’ and his wife can now safely till their 4.5 acres of land to grow maize and other staples. They are able to feed their family and sell produce to meet other household needs.

However, farmers in this region, bordering South Sudan, are facing more erratic rains and the uncertain onset of rainfall. Thanks to new drought-tolerant and disease-resistant maize varieties, the Ochieng’ family can adapt to this variable climate and secure a good maize harvest even in unreliable seasons.

Geoffrey Ochieng’, a smallholder farmer from northern Uganda. He plants the UH5051 variety on his land. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

Tolerance is key

“The popularity of this drought-tolerant variety among the farmers has been growing thanks to its good yield and reliability even with poor rains and its resistance to common foliar diseases like northern corn leaf blight and gray leaf spot, plus good resistance to the maize streak virus,” explained Daniel Bomet, a NARO maize breeder. “Maturing in slightly over four months, Gagawala can produce two to three maize cobs, which appeals to farmers.”

Ochieng’ has been planting UH5051 maize since 2015. Before adopting the new hybrid, Ochieng’ was growing Longe 5, a popular open-pollinated variety that is less productive and not very disease-resistant.

“What I like about UH5051 is that even with low moisture stress, it will grow and I will harvest something,” Ochieng’ said. Under optimal conditions, he harvests about 1.2 metric tons of maize grain on one acre of UH5051 hybrid.

With the old Longe 5 variety, he would only harvest 700 kg. “If the rains were delayed or it didn’t rain a lot, I would be lucky to get 400 kg per acre with the Longe 5, while I get twice as much with the hybrid,” Ochieng’ explained.

Thanks to this tolerant maize variety, he can pay his children’s school fees and provide some surplus grain to his relatives.

A worker at the Equator Seeds production plant in Gulu displays packs of UH5051 maize seed. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

Out with the old, in with the new

“One key strategy to improve our farmers’ livelihoods in northern Uganda is to gradually replace old varieties with new varieties that can better cope with the changing climate and problematic pests and diseases,” said Godfrey Asea, the director of the National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI) at NARO. “Longe 5 for instance, has been marketed for over 14 years. It has done its part and it needs to give way to new improved varieties like UH5051.”

The Gulu-based company Equator Seeds has been at the core of the agricultural transformation in northern Uganda. From 70 metrics tons of seed produced when it started operations in 2012, the company reached an annual capacity of about 7,000 to 10,000 metric tons of certified seed of different crops in 2018. Working with dedicated out-growers such as Anthony Okello, who has a 40-acre piece of land, and 51 farmer cooperatives comprising smallholder farmers, Equator Seeds produces seed of open-pollinated hybrid maize and other crops, which reaches farmers through a network of 380 agro-dealers.

“80% of farmers in northern Uganda still use farm-saved or recycled seed, which we consider to be our biggest competitor,” Tonny Okello, CEO of Equator Seeds remarked. “Currently, about 60% of our sales are in maize seed. This share should increase to 70% by 2021. We plan to recruit more agro-dealers, establish more demonstration farms, mostly for the hybrids, to encourage more farmers to adopt our high yielding resilient varieties.”

The two-decade unrest discouraged seed companies from venturing into northern Uganda but now they see its huge potential. “We have received tremendous support from the government, non-governmental organizations, UN and humanitarian agencies for buying seed from us and distributing it to farmers in northern Uganda and South Sudan, to aid their recovery,” Okello said.

Godfrey Asea (right), director of the National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI), and Uganda’s National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) maize breeder, Daniel Bomet, visit an improved maize plot at NARO’s Kigumba Station, in central Uganda. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

Social impact

The Ugandan seed sector is dynamic thanks to efficient public-private partnerships. While NARO develops and tests new parental lines and hybrids in their research facilities, they have now ventured into seed production and processing at their 2,000-acre Kigumba Farm in western Uganda through NARO Holdings, their commercial arm.

“Because the demand for improved seed is not always met, NARO Holdings started producing certified seed, but the major focus is on production of early generation seed, which is often a bottleneck for the seed sector,” Asea said.

Aniku Bernard, Farm Manager, examines a maize cob at the foundation seed farm located inside the Lugore Prison premises. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

Another innovative collaboration has been to work with the Uganda Prisons Service (UPS) establishments to produce maize seed. “When we started this collaboration with UPS, we knew they had some comparative advantages such as vast farmland, ready labor, mechanization equipment and good isolation, which are important for high-quality hybrid maize seed production,” Asea explained. The UPS facility in Lugore, Gulu, which has 978 hectares of land, produces foundation seed of UH5051.

“Prisons offer a big potential to support the growing seed industry,” he said. “Together with CIMMYT, we should build further the capacity of UPS to produce foundation and certified seeds. It provides much-needed income for the institutions. The inmates, in addition to being remunerated for farm labor, are engaged in positive outdoor impactful activities. This skill is helpful for their future reintegration in the society.”

From left to right: Winnie Nanteza, National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCCRI) communications officer; Daniel Bomet, NARO maize breeder; Byakatonda Tanazio, Assistant Superintendent of Prisons, Lugore Prison, Gulu; Aniku Bernard, Farm Manager at Lugore Prison; and Godfrey Asea, director of NaCRRI, stand for a group photo at the foundation seed production farm inside Lugore Prison. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

STMA meeting participants pose for a group photo during a field visit to seed company Zamseeds. (Photo: Jerome Bossuet/CIMMYT)

Shifting to a demand-led maize improvement agenda

Written by Jennifer Johnson on May 29, 2019. Posted in Features.

Partners of the Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) project held their annual meeting May 7–9, 2019, in Lusaka, Zambia, to review the achievements of the past year and to discuss the priorities going forward. Launched in 2016, the STMA project aims to develop multiple stress-tolerant maize varieties for diverse agro-ecologies in sub-Saharan Africa, increase genetic gains for key traits preferred by the smallholders, and make these improved seeds available at scale in the target countries in partnership with local public and private seed sector partners.

The project, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), and implemented together with the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), national agricultural research systems and seed company partners in 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

The meeting was officially opened by the Deputy Director of the Zambia Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI), Monde Zulu. “Maize in Africa faces numerous challenges such as drought, heat, pests and disease. Thankfully, these challenges can be addressed through research. I would like to take this opportunity to thank CIMMYT and IITA. Your presence here is a testament of your commitment to improve the livelihoods of farmers in sub-Saharan Africa,” she said.

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and its partners are working together in the fight against challenges such as drought, maize lethal necrosis and fall armyworm. The STMA project applies innovative technologies such as high-throughput phenotyping, doubled haploids, marker-assisted breeding and intensive germplasm screening to develop improved stress-tolerant maize varieties for smallholder farmers. The project team is also strengthening maize seed systems in sub-Saharan Africa through public-private partnerships.

The efforts are paying off: in 2018, 3.5 million smallholder farmers planted stress-tolerant maize varieties in 10 African countries.

The deputy director of the Zambia Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI), Monde Zulu (fourth from left), gives the opening address of the STMA Annual Meeting 2019. Left to right: Mick Mwala, University of Zambia; Tony Cavalieri, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; B.M. Prasanna, CIMMYT; Monde Zulu, ZARI; Mwansa Kabamba, ZARI; Cosmos Magorokosho, CIMMYT; and Abebe Menkir, IITA.

Yielding results

CIMMYT researcher and STMA project leader Cosmos Magorokosho reminded the importance of maize in the region. “Maize is grown on over 35 million hectares in sub-Saharan Africa, and more than 208 million farmers depend on it as a staple crop. However, average maize yields in sub-Saharan Africa are among the lowest in the world.” Magorokosho pointed out that the improved maize varieties developed through the project “provide not only increased yields but also yield stability even under challenging conditions like drought, poor soil fertility, pests and diseases.”

“STMA has proved that it is possible to combine multiple stress tolerance and still get good yields,” explained B.M. Prasanna, director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program and the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE). “One of the important aspects of STMA are the partnerships which have only grown stronger through the years. We are the proud partners of national agricultural research systems and over 100 seed companies across sub-Saharan Africa.”

Keynote speaker Hambulo Ngoma of the Indaba Agricultural Policy Research Institute (IAPRI) addressed the current situation of maize in Zambia, where farmers are currently reeling from recent drought. “Maize is grown by 89% of smallholder farmers in Zambia, on 54% of the country’s cultivable land, but productivity remains low. This problem will be exacerbated by expected population growth, as the population of Zambia is projected to grow from over 17 million to 42 million by 2050,” he said.

STMA meeting participants pose for a group photo during the field visit to QualiBasic Seed. (Photo: Jennifer Johnson/CIMMYT)

Down to business

On May 8, participants visited three partner local seed companies to learn more about the opportunities and challenges of producing improved maize seed for smallholder farmers.

Afriseed CEO Stephanie Angomwile discussed her business strategy and passion for agriculture with participants. She expressed her gratitude for the support CIMMYT has provided to the company, including access to drought-tolerant maize varieties as well as capacity development opportunities for her staff.

Bhola Nath Verma, principal crop breeder at Zamseed, explained how climate change has a visible impact on the Zambian maize sector, as the main maize growing basket moved 500 km North due to increased drought. Verma deeply values the partnership with the STMA project, as he can source drought-tolerant breeding materials from CIMMYT and IITA, allowing him to develop early-maturing improved maize varieties that escape drought and bring much needed yield stability to farmers in Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania and Zambia.

At QualiBasic Seed, STMA partners were given the opportunity to learn and ask questions about the company’s operations, including the seed multiplication process in Zambia and the importance of high-quality, genetically pure foundation seed for seed companies.

Emmanuel Angomwile (left) and Stephanie Angomwile (center) answer visitors’ questions at their seed company, Afriseed. (Photo: Jennifer Johnson/CIMMYT)

Young ideas

The meeting concluded with an awards ceremony for the winners of the 2019 MAIZE Youth Innovators Awards – Africa, established by MAIZE in collaboration with the Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD). These awards recognize the contributions of young women and men under 35 who are implementing innovations in African maize-based agri-food systems, including research-for-development, seed systems, agribusiness, and sustainable intensification. This is the second year of the MAIZE Youth Awards, and the first time it has been held in Africa. Winners include Hildegarde Dukunde of Rwanda and Mila Lokwa Giresse of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the change agent category, Admire Shayanowako of the Republic of South Africa and Ismael Mayanja of Uganda in the research category, and Blessings Likagwa of Malawi in the farmer category.