Dr. Ravi Prakash Singh, associated with CIMMYT, is awarded the Padma Shri. He’s recognized for his global impact in agricultural science, notably developing over 730 climate-resilient, high-yield wheat varieties, benefiting small-holder farmers.
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CIMMYT’s development and release of six new wheat varieties in Ethiopia, aimed at combating rust diseases and increasing yields, underscore its pivotal role in advancing agricultural self-sufficiency and productivity in the country. These varieties, covering the majority of Ethiopia’s wheat cultivation area, highlight CIMMYT’s significant contribution to enhancing food security and agricultural resilience.
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As part of her fact-finding mission across CGIAR Research Centers, Ismahane Elouafi, CGIAR’s executive managing director, returned to CIMMYT headquarters in Texcoco, Mexico, where she studied as a Ph.D. student twenty years ago. Through meetings with CIMMYT staff from 21-24 December 2023, Elouafi learned how CIMMYT’s 2030 Strategy of more investment in developing food systems and climate-smart agriculture will contribute to CGIAR’s 2030 vision of a food and nutrition secure future.
“CIMMYT was pleased to host Ismahane,” said Bram Govaerts, CIMMYT director general. “Our ultimate mission is to transform agrifood systems. The only way we will reach our goal of food and nutrition security is by working globally and collaboratively across the value chain.”
At CIMMYT’s museum and gene bank, Elouafi met with researchers to discuss the latest discoveries in genetic innovation, biodiversity conservation, and crop breeding. Elouafi and Kevin Pixley, director of the Dryland Crops program, visited the biosafety laboratory and glasshouses where gene editing on pearl millet and ground nut represent cutting-edge work with dryland crops. Elouafi also saw gene editing for resistance to maize lethal necrosis, which is already in field validation with Kenyan partners from the Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization (KALRO).
Global Wheat and Dryland Crops presented CIMMYT’s 2050 vision for wheat in Africa and near-term goals of advancing partnerships from phenotyping platforms to the International Wheat Improvement Network (IWIN). Seed experts from the Seed Health Unit shared progress on the productivity and nutrition findings of key cereals for healthy and balanced diets.
Elouafi also visited conservation trial plots with Jelle Van Loon, associate director of the Sustainable Agrifood Systems (SAS) program, who briefed Elouafi on cropping systems diversity related to maize, wheat, and beans, and showcased a variety of innovative farming technologies. At the trial plots, Elouafi met with Guillermo Bretón, a farmer, to talk about CIMMYT’s efforts to expand the MasAgro program into Central America aiming to address the region’s growing food insecurity contributing to migration.
The value of genetic resources as sources of novel diversity was discussed with Elouafi during a visit to field screenhouses, where she saw wide crosses work for biological nitrification inhibition (BNI) in wheat, gene bank accessions of triticale—a cross between wheat and rye—for use in searching for new sources of resistance to wheat blast, and the ex-situ clonal collection of tripsacum, a wild relative of maize.
“CIMMYT’s 2030 Strategy adopts a systems approach to food science, which I strongly support. Through the development of mechanization and post-harvest management, increased focus on seed systems and health, and most importantly, cooperation with partners to ensure that improved crop varieties are adopted by smallholders, I am confident that this approach will only strengthen CIMMYT’s historical strength of research and innovation for food and nutrition security and contribute to achieving CGIAR’s 2030 mission,” said Elouafi.
Kevin Kabunda, chief of party for the Southern Africa Accelerated Innovation Delivery Initiative (AID-I) MasAgro Africa Rapid Delivery Hub (AID-I) and Sieglinde Snapp, director of the SAS program, presented key milestones achieved in southern and eastern Africa on expanded seed systems, market access, and mechanization technologies. Snapp also highlighted important CIMMYT-led initiatives like the CGIAR Plant Health Initiative and the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) which have had a positive impact on smallholders in part because of partnerships with government agencies and other CGIAR Research Centers.
Elouafi and Govaerts visited the ancient city of Teotihuacán to learn about the cultural significance of maize to the history and agricultural practices of the Americas. She received a guided tour by chef Carlos Cedillo, operational director of La Gruta, a local restaurant dedicated to understanding and promoting the production and consumption of native maize varieties in the Valley of Mexico. CIMMYT has collaborated with La Gruta through capacity building initiatives by CIMMYT specialists for technicians and farmers.
Elouafi joined CIMMYT staff in a meet and greet session on 21 December, where staff expressed the strides being made by CIMMYT’s leadership team to foster a more inclusive workplace. “This moment of coming together with the staff that make CIMMYT a great place to work and who position the Center as a significant actor in agricultural development will be a highlight of my visit,” said Elouafi.
Nominations are now being accepted for the 2024 Jeanie Borlaug Laube Women in Triticum (WIT) awards honoring outstanding early-career scientists engaged in wheat research. The Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI) presents the WIT awards to acknowledge excellence and leadership among scientists in the initial stages of their careers. Recipients of the 2024 awards will benefit from advanced leadership and scientific training for wheat research, supported by the BGRI and the Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat project led by CIMMYT.
Applications for the 2024 WIT Awards
Applications will be accepted until January 31, 2024. These awards, named after Jeanie Borlaug Laube, chair of the BGRI and daughter of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Norman E. Borlaug, have recognized the accomplishments of early-career scientists in wheat research worldwide since their establishment in 2010. To date, the BGRI has acknowledged over 70 deserving individuals.
When one thinks of heat waves, the natural tendency is to consider high daytime temperatures. However, when most people are sleeping, a hidden factor of climate change is taking place: temperatures at night are not dipping as much as observed in the past, which has dramatic effects on many crops, including wheat. In fact, nocturnal temperatures are rising more rapidly globally than daytime temperatures, which is of great concern as research is starting to show the sensitivity of plants to warmer nights.
A group of researchers, from the University of Nottingham, the Sonora Institute of Technology (ITSON) and CIMMYT examined how different wheat lines reacted to the effects of rising nighttime temperatures treatments imposed in the field, for three years at CIMMYT’s Norman E. Borlaug experimental station in Ciudad Obregon, Mexico. Their results, Night-time warming in the field reduces nocturnal stomatal conductance and grain yield but does not alter daytime physiological responses were published in New Phytologist.
Previous studies revealed that wheat yields decline 3-8% for every 1°C increase of the nighttime low temperature. For this research, the team subjected the selected wheat breeds to an increase of 2°C. The varieties were selected based on previous evaluations of their daytime heat tolerance.
Notably, the findings highlighted that genotypes classified as traditionally heat tolerant were sensitive to small increases in nighttime temperature even without daytime temperature stress, implying that adaptation to warm nights is likely under independent genetic control than daytime adaptation.
“These results are exciting as they offer new perspectives on the impact of night temperatures on diurnal photosynthetic performance and wheat yields,” said co-first author Liana Acevedo-Siaca. “Through this work we found that wheat yields decreased, on average, 1.9% for every degree that increased at night. Our hope is that this work can help inform future breeding and research decisions to work towards more resilient agricultural systems, capable of dealing with warmer day and nighttime temperatures.”
Plants at night
While plants do not “sleep” in the way animals do, nighttime for plants has long been thought of as a time of repose compared to daylight hours when photosynthesis is taking place. However, recent findings have revealed that plants are more active than previously thought at night, for example in transpiration, which is the process of plants gathering liquid water from the soil and releasing water vapor through their leaves.
“An interesting result of our research was that we found varieties characterized as heat tolerant, showed some of the greatest declines in yield in response to warmer nights,” said co-first author Lorna McAusland, Division of Plant and Crop Sciences, School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham. “These are the varieties wheat farmers are being recommended for increasing daytime temperature, and so there is a worry that advantages gained during the day are being lost at night.”
“There is likely a goldmine of opportunities related to genetically improving nighttime processes in crops, as very little research has been conducted in that space. Useful genetic variation can be expected, since ‘night’ traits have never been considered or needed before now,” said co-author Matthew Reynolds, who leads the CIMMYT’s Wheat Physiology Lab that collaborates globally with experts via HeDWIC (https://hedwic.org/) and uses physiological pre-breeding as a conduit for cutting edge technologies to impact mainstream breeding.
Nigerian wheat scientists and millers recently recognized and thanked CIMMYT for its contributions to four new wheat varieties released to farmers, citing the varieties’ exceptional performance in field trials and farmers’ fields across national wheat-growing regions.
“The release of these four wheat varieties, uniquely tailored to suit our local conditions, has marked a significant milestone in enhancing food security and farmer livelihoods,” said Ahamed T. Abdullahi, agronomist for wheat value chains at the Flour Milling Association of Nigeria (FMAN), in a recent message to CIMMYT’s Global Wheat program. “The improved characteristics, such as higher yield potential, enhanced disease resistance, and adaptability to local climatic conditions, have significantly boosted wheat productivity. Moreover, the quality profiles of these varieties, as expressed in Nigeria, comply fully with the standards required by the local industry.”
Two of the varieties are bread wheat and yield up to 7 tons of grain per hectare, according to a recent Nigeria Tribune article. The other two are durum wheat, a species grown to make pasta and foods such as couscous and tabbouleh. One of those, given the name LACRIWHIT 14D in Nigeria, was from a CIMMYT wheat line selected for its novel genetic resistance to leaf rust and high-yield potential under irrigated conditions. It was also released in Mexico under the name CIRNO C2008 and is the country’s number-one durum wheat variety, according to Karim Ammar, a wheat breeder at CIMMYT.
“Aside from its high yield potential, it has considerable grain size and an aggressive grain fill that is expressed even under extreme heat,” explained Ammar. “These characteristics have certainly helped its identification as outstanding for Nigerian conditions.”
Writing on behalf of FMAN and the Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI) of Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Abdullahi said, “We deeply appreciate the expertise and support provided by CIMMYT throughout the development and release process. Your team’s technical guidance on the access to germplasm has played a crucial role in equipping our farmers and extension agents with the necessary skills and resources for successful wheat cultivation.”
Nigeria has a fast-growing population which, coupled with increasing per capita demand for wheat, has made increasing wheat production a national priority, according to Kevin Pixley, director of the Dryland Crops and Global Wheat programs at CIMMYT.
“Until recently, Nigeria produced only 2% of the wheat it consumes, but potential exists to double the current average yield and expand wheat production by perhaps 10-times its current area,” said Pixley. “New wheat varieties will be essential and must be grown using sustainable production practices that improve farmers’ livelihoods while safeguarding long-term food security and natural resources.”
Abdullahi said the release of the varieties demonstrated the power of collaborative research and highlighted the potential for future collaborations. “We look forward to continued collaborations and success in the pursuit of sustainable food systems.”
CIMMYT and the Global Center on Adaptation, along with the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture’s Food Systems Resilience Program (FSRP), presented the results of their joint research on climate risks during a two-day workshop held in October in Addis Ababa.
For over a year and a half, agricultural experts, academics and scientists worked together under the project Digital Climate Advisory Services for Priority Agricultural Value Chains in Ethiopia, which aimed to analyze the risks posed by climate change on five value chains – wheat, maize, coffee, soybean and livestock – and to offer practical adaptation options. CIMMYT conducted the studies in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and with the sponsorship of GCA. The workshop was attended by experts from the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, the Ethiopian Metrology Agency, the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Institute, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Green Agro Solutions, among other organizations.
From research outcomes to practical solutions
As a prelude to the two-day discussion, CIMMYT senior scientist, Kindie Tesfaye, expressed his hopes that the research findings will be translated into practical solutions in the field. In turn, GCA Food Security senior program officer Mercy Nyambura invited the guests to share their insights, knowledge and expertise on how the joint research outputs could be put to use.
Highlighting that climate variability and climate extreme events are the main two factors undermining food security in Ethiopia, Keberu Belayneh, FSRP’s head at the Ministry of Agriculture, underlined the need for multi-partnerships to respond and adapt to climate change. He farther shared his hope that the program will contribute to the government’s ongoing efforts to ensure food security in the country.
Offering the perspective of a private sector actor, Green Agro Solutions’ executive director Abrhame Endrias hailed the partnership between his company and CIMMYT in five districts where the company deployed its digital platform LERSHA – “for agriculture” in Amharic. LERSHA provides farmers with vital weather forecasts, as well as other services such as farm inputs, mechanization services, and agro-climate advice. In addition, development agents are bridging the literacy gap between the farmers and the digital services, added Abrhame Endrias. In the five districts where CIMMYT and Green Agro Solutions partnered, LERSHA ‘s adoption rates increased, Abrhame Endrias noted.
Vibrant discussions
The results on the five value chains were presented in five different sessions. The first day of the workshop, Debre Markos University’s Dereje Ademe communicated the findings of the studies on the maize and soybean value chains, while Abate Mekuriaw, associate professor at the Addis Ababa University, introduced the results on the wheat value chain. They were followed on the second day by Adama Ndour and Mekdes Woldegiorgis, post-doctoral researchers at CIMMYT-Ethiopia, who discussed with the audience their findings on the current and future climate risks for the coffee and cattle value chains.
Echoing Kindie Tesfaye and Mercy Nyambura’s call, the conversations mainly focused on the potential implementation of the research outcomes, with multiple participants voicing their wishes to see the outputs cascading down to district levels.
Keberu Abayneh, the head of the FSRP in the Ministry of Agriculture, gave a closing remark at the end of the workshop thanking CIMMYT, the technical team that carried out the studies, the Ministry of Agriculture and all stakeholders who took part in it.
Following this, the first Regional Climate Risk Analysis Output Communication Workshop was held in Adama, Ethiopia, from November 13-14, 2023.
As highlighted in the first workshop, the research findings needed to be cascaded down to the regional and district level in order to be implemented successfully. To this end, the second workshop brought together the main representatives from regional agricultural offices in the 11 regional states, who engaged in discussions around the research findings, recommendations, and implementation methods. Researchers, agricultural experts, and representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture, Green Agro Solution, CIMMYT and FSRP also took part in the discussions.
This workshop, held with the aim of engaging participants from 11 regional states in active discussions and gathering feedbacks, is believed to lay the groundwork for cascading down the research results for implementation.
When representatives from regional states presented on their respective areas, they found more common points than differences. Climate change risk on each of the five value chains is felt across Ethiopia due to extremes and variances in rainfall and temperatures, and many regions are shifting cultivating seasons, forwarded by up to three months because of late-onset of rainfall. These incidents are forcing farmers to change conventional cultivation patterns, with those who stick to the conventional schedule at risk of losing their yields. Some farmers have even changed the types of crops they grow as a result.
Participants noted that the recommended adaptation plans are commendable and implementable in their respective areas, with the proper guidance and resources. In order to ensure tangible impact, they asked for the research documents on the priority value chains to be communicated to a wider range of stakeholders in each regional state.
Creating awareness on the climate risk and the adaptation plans, building capacity to ensure the implementation, piloting and then scaling up implementation across the regional states with consistent monitoring and evaluation can bring effective results, stakeholders agreed.
In a visit to 5 model sites for maize marketing in midwestern Nepal, 30 federal, provincial and local agricultural authorities were impressed with the coordination and capacity development among market actors, improved supply chain management and leveraging of government support, all of which are benefiting farmers and grain buyers.
Following visits to commercial maize fields and hearing stakeholders’ perceptions of progress and key lessons, the authorities proposed additional funding for irrigation, machinery, grain grading and crop insurance, among other support, and promised to help expand activities of the model sites, which were established as part of the Nepal Seed and Fertilizer (NSAF) project.
Led by CIMMYT with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and in its second-last year of operation, the project is working to raise crop productivity, incomes and household food and nutrition security across 20 districts of Nepal, including 5 that were severely affected by the catastrophic 2015 earthquake and aftershocks which killed nearly 9,000 and left hundreds of thousands homeless.
The visitors included officials and experts from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD); the Department of Agriculture (DoA); the Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives (MoLMAC); the Agriculture Development Directorates (ADD) for Lumbini and Sudurpaschim provinces; the Agriculture Knowledge Centres (AKC) of Banke, Kailali, Kanchanpur, Dang, and Kapilvastu districts; the Prime Minister Agriculture Modernization Project (PMAMP) offices of Dang and Bardiya; and the National Maize Research Program; the Department of Livestock Services; along with NSAF project team members.
The participants interacted with farmers, cooperative leaders, traders, rural municipality officials and elected representatives, and feed mill representatives. Sharing their experiences of behavioral change in maize production, farmers emphasized the benefits of their strengthened relationships with grain buyers and their dreams to expand spring maize cultivation.
Shanta Karki, deputy director the General of Department of the DoA lauded CIMMYT efforts for agriculture growth, improved soil fertility and sustainable agriculture development through NSAF.
Madan Singh Dhami, secretary, MoLMAC in Sudurpaschim Province, emphasized the importance of irrigation, building farmers’ capacities and interactions with buyers, and applying digital innovations to catalyze extension.
CIMMYT scientists have been based in CIMMYT’s office in Nepal and worked with Nepali colleagues for more than three decades to boost the productivity, profitability and ecological efficiency of maize- and wheat-based cropping systems and thus improve rural communities’ food security and livelihoods.
In 2023, India reached a record wheat harvest of over 110 million tons. A partnership between CIMMYT and the Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research (IIWBR) now allows farmers to pre-order advanced wheat varieties, transforming the nation’s agriculture.
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Maria Itria Ibba, a scientist at CIMMYT, received the inaugural Heroes Award from the Foundation for Innovation in Healthy Food. She received the award on October 29 at the ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Ibba, head of CIMMYT’s Wheat Chemistry and Quality Laboratory, received the honor in recognition of her outstanding leadership in launching the foundation’s Coalition for Grain Fiber initiative.
Together with her team at CIMMYT, Ibba works on improving the processing and nutritional quality of the bread and durum wheat lines derived from the CIMMYT spring wheat breeding programs. The research they conduct combines genetics and cereal chemistry, and one of the main focuses is to improve wheat grain dietary fiber. This effort begins with the development of efficient screening methods and the identification of germplasm with unique dietary fiber profiles.
The coalition seeks to improve the nutrition in staple foods without impacting their taste, mouthfeel or consumer price. It is simultaneously dedicated to establishing profit incentives for farmers and other food suppliers that enhance public health by delivering increased nutrient foods.
According to the coalition, improvements in the nutritional content of white and whole wheat flour may ultimately save thousands of lives and billions of healthcare U.S. dollars globally.
“Most people across the world do not consume enough dietary fiber, which is essential in the fight against various diseases,” says Ibba. “Increasing the dietary fiber content of a staple crop like wheat could have a significant positive impact on the health of wheat consumers. Our goal is to increase dietary fiber intake through the consumption of wheat products with greater fiber content.”
Plant breeders, food scientists, nutrition/health scientists and economists are partnering with the coalition to transform the food industry. They support non-GMO (not genetically modified organisms) approaches to increasing naturally occurring dietary fiber in grains.
Over 50 public and private-sector laboratory leaders in three countries and 23 U.S. states have engaged with the coalition, including from CIMMYT, Rothamsted Research, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, University of California, Davis, Cornell University and Bayer Crop Science.
The Nebraska Wheat Board provided support for the efforts of the foundation and the coalition.
“I feel humbled to have received the Heroes Award,” says Ibba. “I know that this award not only represents the work I have been doing, but also all the hard work that my team and my organization have been doing for several years.”
About CIMMYT
CIMMYT is a cutting edge, non-profit, international organization dedicated to solving tomorrow’s problems today. It is entrusted with fostering improved quantity, quality, and dependability of production systems and basic cereals such as maize, wheat, triticale, sorghum, millets, and associated crops through applied agricultural science, particularly in the Global South, through building strong partnerships. This combination enhances the livelihood trajectories and resilience of millions of resource-poor farmers, while working towards a more productive, inclusive, and resilient agrifood system within planetary boundaries.
CIMMYT is a core CGIAR Research Center, a global research partnership for a food-secure future, dedicated to reducing poverty, enhancing food and nutrition security and improving natural resources. For more information, visit cimmyt.org.
About the Foundation for Innovation in Healthy Food
FIHF builds coalitions of stakeholders that support increasing the nutritional value of the foods we consume, while preserving consumers’ food experiences.
About the Coalition for Grain Fiber
The coalition is enrolling grain fiber in the fight against chronic disease. By improving the nutritional content of white and whole wheat flour, it seeks to save thousands of lives and dramatically reduce healthcare costs.
The Sainsbury Laboratory, the John Innes Centre and 21 other institutes are joining forces in a major global effort to monitor plant pathogens. Led by CIMMYT, the initiative aims to strengthen wheat productivity in food-insecure areas of East Africa and South Asia.
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The Pakistan-China laboratory has developed wheat varieties that have shown an impressive 8-10% yield increase over local varieties, and CIMMYT has expressed interest in collaborating with the laboratory to further strengthen wheat variety development efforts.
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On July 17-18, 2023, 87 wheat scientists gathered to learn about new approaches and methods for wheat improvement in Faisalabad, Pakistan. CIMMYT and the Wheat Research Institute, Faisalabad (WRI-FSD) jointly organized a two-day training. The course covered two topics: high throughput genotyping technologies and high throughput phenotyping platforms. The trainees, who were able to attend in person or remotely and 27% of whom were women, hailed from 17 NARES partners across Pakistan.
After being welcomed by the Director General of Ayub Agricultural Research Institute (AARI), Akhtar Ali, and CIMMYT’s Country Representative, TP Tiwari, participants received an update on the status of wheat in Pakistan from Muhammad Sohail, national wheat coordinator for the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC). Subsequently, WRI-FSD Director, Javed Ahmed, discussed wheat research in Punjab, where over 70% wheat is grown in Pakistan. Kevin Pixley, interim director of CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program, joined the proceedings remotely for a conversation about CIMMYT’s and CGIAR’s collaboration with NARES. Participants discussed the model’s successes, bottlenecks, the role of NARES, and the potential for capacity development. The conversation generated broad interest and suggestions for enhancing the partnership’s effectiveness. Akhtar Ali, Muhammad Sohail, and Javed Ahmed all spoke very highly about CIMMYT’s support in Pakistan.
This event was organized as part of a collaborative project entitled “Rapid development of climate resilient wheat varieties for South Asia using genomic selection” that is jointly managed by Kansas State University and CIMMYT with funding from the USAID Feed the Future program.
“Training emphasized the need for an output-oriented researcher that covered the development of climate-resilient wheat varieties, given the environmental challenges we are experiencing like, drought and heat, and highlighted the importance of innovative methodologies and advanced tools for high throughput phenotyping and genotyping for sustainable and resilient wheat production in Pakistan” said Muhammad Ishaq, a senior research officer and one of the training participants from Kohat Research Station, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
At the conclusion of the training, Javed, direct of WRI Faisalabad, commended CIMMYT’s support and suggested continuing the pace of training. Dr. Tiwari stressed the importance of such efforts will help Pakistan’s scientists develop and deploy climate resilient, impactful wheat varieties to boost wheat production and reduce wheat imports in the country.
India can applaud a hallmark in national food production: in 2023, the harvest of wheat—India’s second most important food crop—will surpass 110 million tons for the first time.
This maintains India as the world’s number-two wheat producer after China, as has been the case since the early 2000s. It also extends the wheat productivity jumpstart that begun in the Green Revolution—the modernization of India’s agriculture during the 1960s-70s that allowed the country to put behind it the recurrent grain shortages and extreme hunger of preceding decades.
“Newer and superior wheat varieties in India continually provide higher yields and genetic resistance to the rusts and other deadly diseases,” said Distinguished Scientist Emeritus at CIMMYT, Ravi Singh. “More than 90 percent of spring bread wheat varieties released in South Asia in the last three decades carry CIMMYT breeding contributions for those or other valued traits, selected directly from the Center’s international yield trials and nurseries or developed locally using CIMMYT parents.”
Wheat grain yield in Indian farmers’ fields rose yearly by more than 1.8 percent—some 54 kilograms per hectare—in the last decade, a remarkable achievement and significantly above the global average of 1.3 percent. New and better wheat varieties also reach farmers much sooner, due to better policies and strategies that speed seed multiplication, along with greater involvement of private seed producers.
“The emergence of Ug99 stem rust disease from eastern Africa in the early 2000s and its ability to overcome the genetic resistance of older varieties drove major global and national initiatives to quickly spread the seed of newer, resistant wheat and to encourage farmers to grow it,” Singh explained. “This both protected their crops and delivered breeding gains for yield and climate resilience.”
CIMMYT has recently adopted an accelerated breeding approach that has reduced the breeding cycle to three years and is expected to fast-track genetic gains in breeding populations and hasten delivery of improvements to farmers. The scheme builds on strong field selection and testing in Mexico, integrates genomic selection, and features expanded yield assays with partner institutions. To stimulate adoption of newer varieties, the Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research (IIWBR, of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, ICAR) operates a seed portal that offers farmers advanced booking for seed of recently released and other wheat varieties.
Private providers constitute another key seed source. In particular, small-scale seed producers linked to the IIWBR/ICAR network have found a profitable business in multiplying and marketing new wheat seed, thus supporting the replacement of older, less productive or disease susceptible varieties.
Farm innovations for changing climates and resource scarcities
Following findings from longstanding CIMMYT and national studies, more Indian wheat farmers are sowing their crops weeks earlier so that the plants mature before the extreme high temperatures that precede the monsoon season, thus ensuring better yields.
New varieties DBW187, DBW303, DBW327, DBW332 and WH1270 can be planted as early as the last half of October, in the northwestern plain zone. Recent research by Indian and CIMMYT scientists has identified well-adapted wheat lines for use in breeding additional varieties for early sowing.
Resource-conserving practices promoted by CIMMYT and partners, such as planting wheat seed directly into the unplowed fields and residues from a preceding rice crop, shave off as much as two weeks of laborious plowing and planking.
“This ‘zero tillage’ and other forms of reduced tillage, as well as straw management systems, save the time, labor, irrigation water and fuel needed to plant wheat, which in traditional plowing and sowing requires many tractor passes,” said Arun Joshi, CIMMYT wheat breeder and regional representative for Asia and managing director of the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA). “Also, letting rice residues decompose on the surface, rather than burning them, enriches the soil and reduces seasonal air pollution that harms human health in farm communities and cities such as New Delhi.”
Sustainable practices include precision levelling of farmland for more efficient irrigation and the precise use of nitrogen fertilizer to save money and the environment.
Science and policies ensure future wheat harvests and better nutrition
Joshi mentioned that increased use of combines has sped up wheat harvesting and cut post-harvest grain losses from untimely rains caused by climate change. “Added to this, policies such as guaranteed purchase prices for grain and subsidies for fertilizers have boosted productivity, and recent high market prices for wheat are convincing farmers to invest in their operations and adopt improved practices.”
To safeguard India’s wheat crops from the fearsome disease wheat blast, native to the Americas but which struck Bangladesh’s wheat fields in 2016, CIMMYT and partners from Bangladesh and Bolivia have quickly identified and cross-bred resistance genes into wheat and launched wheat disease monitoring and early warning systems in South Asia.
“More than a dozen wheat blast resistant varieties have been deployed in eastern India to block the disease’s entry and farmers in areas adjoining Bangladesh have temporarily stopped growing wheat,” said Pawan Singh, head of wheat pathology at CIMMYT.
Building on wheat’s use in many Indian foods, under the HarvestPlus program CIMMYT and Indian researchers applied cross-breeding and specialized selection to develop improved wheats featuring grain with enhanced levels of zinc, a micronutrient whose lack in Indian diets can stunt the growth of young children and make them more vulnerable to diarrhea and pneumonia.
“At least 10 such ‘biofortified’ wheat varieties have been released and are grown on over 2 million hectares in India,” said Velu Govindan, CIMMYT breeder who leads the Center’s wheat biofortification research. “It is now standard practice to label all new varieties for biofortified traits to raise awareness and adoption, and CIMMYT has included high grain zinc content among its primary breeding objectives, so we expect that nearly all wheat lines distributed by CIMMYT in the next 5-8 years will have this trait.”
A rigorous study published in 2018 showed that, when vulnerable young children in India ate foods prepared with such zinc-biofortified wheat, they experienced significantly fewer days of pneumonia and vomiting than would normally be the case.
Celebrating joint achievements and committing for continued success
The April-June 2018 edition of the “ICAR Reporter” newsletter called the five-decade ICAR-CIMMYT partnership in agricultural research “…one of the longest and most productive in the world…” and mentioned mutually beneficial research in the development and delivery of stress resilient and nutritionally enriched wheat, impact-oriented sustainable and climate-smart farming practices, socioeconomic analyses, and policy recommendations.
Speaking during an August 2022 visit to India by CIMMYT Director General Bram Govaerts, Himanshu Pathak, secretary of the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) of India’s Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Director General of ICAR, “reaffirmed the commitment to closely work with CIMMYT and BISA to address the current challenges in the field of agricultural research, education and extension in the country.”
“The ICAR-CIMMYT collaboration is revolutionizing wheat research and technology deployment for global food security,” said Gyanendra Singh, director, ICAR-IIWBR. “This in turn advances global peace and prosperity.”
According to Govaerts, CIMMYT has concentrated on strategies that foster collaboration to deliver greater value for the communities both ICAR and the Center serve. “The way forward to the next milestone — say, harvesting 125 million tons of wheat from the same or less land area — is through our jointly developing and making available new, cost effective, sustainable technologies for smallholder farmers,” he said.
Wheat research and development results to date, challenges, and future initiatives occupied the table at the 28th All India Wheat & Barley Research Workers’ Meeting, which took place in Udaipur, state of Rajasthan, August 28-30, 2023, and which ICAR and CIMMYT wheat scientists attended.
Generous funding from various agencies, including the following, have supported the work described: The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany (BMZ), the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office of UK’s Government (FCDO), the Foundation for Food & Agricultural Research (FFAR), HarvestPlus, ICAR, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), funders of the One CGIAR Accelerated Breeding Initiative (ABI), and the Plant Health Initiative (PHI).
Paraguay’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Julio César Arriola, recently bestowed on Man Mohan Kohli, retired wheat geneticist of CIMMYT the “Comendador” award of the country’s National Order of Merit, highlighting the scientist’s “…exceptional contribution to Paraguayan agriculture and economy.”
A native of India, where he completed schooling including a Ph.D. in wheat genetics, Kohli worked at CIMMYT during 1971-2004 on topics including spring x winter wheat crosses, resistance in wheat to the rust and other diseases, and the improvement and promotion of triticale, a wheat x rye hybrid.
In 1978 he was assigned to a CIMMYT regional program involving wheat breeding, development and training in collaboration with countries of the Southern Cone of South America, which included facilitating the regional testing and exchange of wheat breeding lines and selection data.
As of 2004, Kohli has been an active part-time consultant with Paraguay’s national wheat program and the Bioceres Group in Argentina.
“Funding ended for CIMMYT wheat research in Paraguay in 1993,” Kohli said. “In 2003 we started direct cooperation again through a joint venture including the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, the Paraguayan Chamber of Cereals and Oilseeds Exporters, and CIMMYT.”
“Back in 2003, Paraguay was producing about 320,000 tons of wheat each year and importing over 200,000 tons. Now, yearly output is around 1 million tons and the country exports almost a third of that.”
Kohli said the joint initiative had promoted higher-yielding wheat varieties and farming methods, lowered the costs of agrochemicals, and helped form associations involving farmers and millers—the complete cycle from sowing to marketing for wheat.
Paraguayans eat an average of over 85 kilograms of wheat each year as pasta, bread and other bakery products.
Kohli’s career has led him to work with science luminaries such as M.S. Swaminathan, Glenn Anderson, Joe Rupert, Cal Qualset, Warren Kronstad, Frank Zillinsky, and Sanjaya Rajaram, among others.
“I met CIMMYT scientist and eventual Nobel Peace laureate, Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, in 1967,” Kohli said. “We continued to meet every year on his visits to India and, when I was about to finish my Ph.D. in 1970, he invited me to join the team at CIMMYT.”
“It has been a privilege and honor to have worked alongside many dedicated colleagues at CIMMYT and national programs who have contributed significantly to building research capacities and global food security over the last 50 years. This award is dedicated to all of them and the farmers who have been the primary source of inspiration for our work”.
For more information in Spanish, see:
Paraguay le otorga la Orden Nacional del Mérito a Mohan Kohli, respetada figura del sector agrario