CIMMYT training courses play a critical role in helping international researchers meet national food security and resource conservation goals. By sharing knowledge to build communities of agricultural knowledge in less developed countries, CIMMYT empowers researchers to aid farmers. In turn, these farmers help ensure sustainable food security. In contrast to formal academic training in plant breeding and agronomy, CIMMYT training activities are hands-on and highly specialized. Trainees from Africa, Asia and Latin America benefit from the data assembled and handled in a global research program. Alumni of CIMMYT courses often become a significant force for agricultural change in their countries.
On October 22, David Campbell, CEO of Mediae, and his team presented their TV and digital education and development programs to International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) staff in Nairobi, Kenya. Mediae is a media company producing the iconic Shamba Shape Up, a weekly farming education TV series watched in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
The purpose of the meeting was to explore the possibility of partnership between CIMMYT and Mediae. Farmer education programs like Shamba Shape Up can showcase CIMMYT’s innovations to millions of farmers. Better awareness could lead to increased adoption of innovations and enhance household incomes, as well as food and nutritional security.
Other education and extension programs include Shamba Chef, which targets women with information about nutrition and family finance, and iShamba, an information service that provides over 350,000 farmers with information on market prices, the weather forecast and tips on crop and animal production.
Since 2013, Shamba Shape Up has run weekly episodes in English and Swahili on Kenya’s Citizen TV, reaching an estimated at 3.5 million people, 70 percent of whom live in rural areas. This “edutainment” program highlights challenges smallholders face in their farming activities. Farm advisories range from crop production, animal husbandry and soil fertility, to seeds, pests and diseases, and climate change adaptation strategies. Usually, highlighted farmers narrate the issues on their farm to a TV presenter while an expert from the private or non-profit sector offers advice on remedial measures. This helps the farmer to improve their productivity and livelihood. Campbell believes that “a mix of entertainment and research elements have enabled the program to remain relevant and sustainably serve large, diverse audiences.”
A farmer measures his crop. (Image: Shamba Shape Up)
In April 2014, CIMMYT and the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) were featured in a Shamba Shape Up episode. The broadcast showcased a maize farmer whose crop production had been devastated by striga, a parasitic weed that had infested over 300,000 hectares of maize in western Kenya. Farmers were advised to plant IR maize, a new herbicide-coated seed variety that is immune to striga and can kill it, and this helped to stop the spread of striga in the region. A more recent episode featuring CIMMYT’s efforts to instill sustainable intensification practices among farmers was aired in February 2018.
Campbell and his team have observed that while millions of farmers enjoy their education programs, many fail to continue applying expert advice on good agricultural practices, such as conservation farming, on their own farms. One particular challenge and area with scope for collaboration is to conduct proper impact evaluation of education programs on farming practices changes and livelihoods.
Over the last two decades, a significant number of rural Bangladeshis â especially youth â have migrated to urban centers, looking for higher paying jobs and an escape from agricultural labor. Conor Riggs is the Global Director of Markets and Entrepreneurship at iDE. He says smallholder farmers in Southern Bangladesh are increasingly struggling to find and afford farm labor to help harvest crops and perform a variety of other on-farm activities.
Riggs says small-scale mechanization, such as two-wheeled tractors fitted with intensification machinery and surface irrigation pumps, can help farmers make up for this labor gap and increase productivity, while boosting the local economy by supporting micro- and small enterprises.
But as Riggs discussed at the recent Scale Up Conference at Purdue University, designing the perfect machine or technology is not enough to create sustainable, far-reaching impact. On the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, weâre following up with him to learn more about the role of markets and partnerships in bringing small-scale mechanization to rural Bangladesh.
Q: Five years ago, CIMMYT and iDE co-designed and began implementing the USAID Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia â Mechanization and Irrigation (CSISA-MI) project. What were the goals when you began?
Our goal was to establish a new industry for attachments in two-wheel tractors in agricultural mechanization, technologies like seeders, reapers and high-volume irrigation pumps for surface water. We wanted to help farmers access services through a fee-for-service model â small entrepreneurs buy machines and rent out those machines to farmers or directly provide that service themselves. There wasn’t really a market naturally growing for these machines in ways that included smallholders while being commercially viable, so we aimed to build it as best we could.
The results of this effort to date have been strong: 191,000 farmers can now access machinery services from a growing network of nearly 3,000 local microenterprise service providers, representing improved cultivation across 92,000 hectares in Southern Bangladesh. And we see abundant evidence that this market is scaling organically now that itâs established a model that works for both firms and farms.
Q: How did you create a market?
We incentivized several large conglomerates in the agri-business space to co-invest with us on several container-loads of these machines, which we imported from Thailand and China. We helped them find some early adopter dealers and local service providers who would actually buy them. Then we developed short-term smart subsidies to drive down the costs of supply chain development, accelerated customer adoption of the machines, and overall market growth.
An important aspect of our strategy is that we did not present these accelerating investments as typical subsidies; rather, we worked with our private partners to offer commercial discounts so that service providers and farmers would recognize the true value of the product and the short-term opportunity to adopt the technology in its initial commercialization phase.
We first implemented this strategy with two leading firms in the market who concurrently launched a very proactive marketing campaign. Then we started pulling back those discounts overtime, year by year, as the initial partner firms found the market opportunity, and redirected this acceleration process with an additional group of interested companies that also wanted to enter the market in an inclusive manner.
Q: So the companies were benefiting from the discount?
Yes, but we created a lot of conditions. Essentially, the more project investment that was committed by the project to discount the cost of the machinery, the more we expected to see both cash and in-kind investment from those companies. In the end, about a dozen companies come into the game with about five that have really driven a lot of heavy investment.
Partnerships have been key throughout this project. What were the different strengths iDE and CIMMYT brought to the table?
iDE is a market development organization. We focus on market-based solutions, technology commercialization, last mile distribution, and market access. Fundamentally, we see our job as de-risking the market for companies to invest in lower income areas and empower the farmer and their family as both consumers and suppliers in the formal economy. To do this, we employ a lot of supply chain development, product re-design and most importantly, we develop networks of micro-entrepreneurs to serve the âmissing middleâ between the formal and informal economies.
CIMMYT brings leading capabilities in linking science and practice, with an un-paralleled strength in understanding the agronomic rationale and the agronomic and economic combinations of the technologies as they’re applied on the ground.
CIMMYT knew what technologies were needed on the ground in Southern Bangladesh to genuinely improve productivity and efficiency in the face of changing economic circumstances, and understood how to apply them to real world conditions in alignment with market-based diffusion mechanisms. CIMMYT was also instrumental in working closely with the Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI) and extension services, key government partners that helped us ensure market development was in alignment with public and social policy.
It can be difficult finding a synergy between two different organizations. Did you run into any challenges? Â
CIMMYT and iDE have different specializations, and at the beginning, we had natural, friendly debates about how to best integrate them and achieve highly ambitious project objectives. But relatively quickly, we figured out how to learn from each other and synthesize our approaches for the best results. Both CIMMYT and iDE approached the partnership with a mission driven focus and a sense of constant, mutual respect for the value each partner brought to the table.
What do you see for the future?Â
As for iDE, weâre excited to expand this successful partnership with CIMMYT to figure out how we can further replicate this success in other countries where we both work. While some of the market conditions in Bangladesh have provided us with unique opportunities for technology scaling in mechanization, weâre highly optimistic that the underlying partnership principles and management systems of CSISA-MI can be replicated in other programs and country contexts â even in ostensibly more challenging market environments.
NAIROBI (Kenya) â Members of the International Maize Improvement Consortium (IMIC) and other partners had a chance to go on a field visit to the Kiboko and Naivasha research stations in Kenya on September 18 and 19, 2018. The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the Kenya Agriculture & Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) held their annual partner field days to share the latest developments in maize and wheat research.
On the first day, CIMMYT invited IMIC researchers to evaluate Material Under Development at the Kiboko site. These maize lines are not publicly released yet but are available to IMIC partners, so they can select the most promising ones for their research and crop improvement work.
Each seed company was looking for certain traits to develop new hybrid varieties. For instance, Samit Fayek, from Fine Seeds Egypt was looking for âerect typeâ maize, as he wants higher crop density and grains that look big. Christopher Volbrecht, from Lake Agriculture in South Africa, was looking for âcobs that stick out as this is what farmers want.â Josephine Okot, from Victoria Seeds in Uganda, said that âseed companies often look at drought tolerance only, but we need now to integrate resistance to Maize Lethal Necrosis.â
Using Doubled Haploid breeding in Kiboko
Some of the workers at Kiboko station sorting out maize seed varieties. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)
Next on the tour to Kiboko, partners visited various stress-tolerant breeding materials, sustainable intensification cropping demonstrations and the Doubled Haploid facility. Vijaya Chaikam, Maize Doubled Haploid Scientist, explained how CIMMYT uses this methodology to cut down breeding time from six to two cycles, which drastically reduces costs.
According to B.M. Prasanna, director of CIMMYTâs Global Maize Program and the CGIAR Research Program MAIZE, doubled haploid breeding is possibly the biggest innovation to speed up genetic gain since the inception of hybrid technology a century ago. âIn the next 4 or 5 years, CIMMYT aims at 80 percent use of double haploid lines for new hybrid development; breeding will be faster and much cheaper that way,â Prasanna said. âFor now, breeders and seed companies need to know how to use double haploid lines to cost-efficiently crossbreed with their varieties for high-quality hybrids.â
At the end of the visit to Kiboko, CIMMYT officially opened a new maize seed storage cold room. This facility will serve to keep seeds in good condition and to better manage inventory. At the opening were the director of KALROâs Food Crops Research Institute, Joyce Malinga, CIMMYTâs Africa Regional Representative, Stephen Mugo, and CIMMYTâs Technical Lead for the Global Maize Program, Aparna Das.
Fighting Maize Lethal Necrosis and rust in Naivasha
A worker at the Naivasha MLN research station conducts a mock inoculation (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)
On the second day, partners visited the Naivasha research station. There, CIMMYT presented the latest efforts to contain Maize Lethal Necrosis (MLN), a devastating maize viral disease first reported in Kenya in 2011 which caused severe crop losses across Eastern Africa, causing severe crop losses. The Naivasha research station is home to a world-class facility to screen for Maize Lethal Necrosis, jointly managed by CIMMYT and KALRO.
At the facility, maize lines are evaluated for MLN resistance. The best lines and varieties are nominated for further development and shared with partners. National Agriculture Research partners can request MLN screening at no cost, while private seed companies are charged for the service. In the last four years, more than 150,000 germplasm have been screened.
CIMMYT wheat scientist Mandeep Randhawa explained how to recognize the different types of wheat rust diseases: stem, stripe and leaf rusts. He emphasized the Ug99 black stem rust strain, which appeared in Uganda in 1998 and has since severely impacted wheat production in the region and globally. Randhawa explained how CIMMYT develops varieties resistant to stem rust using a phenotyping platform and marker-assisted selection.
These two field days were a great opportunity to showcase progress in developing more resilient maize varieties in a fast and cost-effective way. This responsiveness is crucial as pests and diseases continue to threaten the livelihoods of African smallholders. Such impact could not happen without the strong collaboration between CIMMYT and KALRO.
The director of KALRO’s Food Crops Research Institute, Joyce Malinga (left), the director of CIMMYT Global Maize Program, B.M. Prasanna (center), and CIMMYT’s Regional Representative, Stephen Mugo, open the maize seed cold room in Kiboko (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)
The Doubled Haploid Facility in Kiboko and the Maize Lethal Necrosis screening facilty in Naivasha were opened in 2013 with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Syngenta Foundation.
The International Maize Improvement Consortium (IMIC) is a public-private partnership initiative launched in May 2018 as part of CIMMYTâs mission to ramp up seed breeding and production innovations.
The 2018 MAIZE Youth Innovators Awards – Asia recognize the contributions of young women and men who can inspire fellow young people to get involved in maize-based research, social change and farming. The awards are sponsored by the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE) in collaboration with Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD).
The awardees have been invited to attend the 13th Asian Maize Conference in Ludhiana, India, where they will present their work and receive their awards.
The winners in the two categories are:
RESEARCHER
Dinesh Panday, Nepal
Focus: Soil fertility and nutrient management
Dinesh Panday.
Dinesh Pandayâs family has a long history in agriculture, which strongly rooted his passions in the field of soil science. He is a Doctorate Graduate Research Assistant in Soil Fertility and Nutrient Management at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln under the supervision of Bijesh Maharjan and Richard Ferguson.
His research aims to determine the effectiveness of high carbon char in reducing environmental nitrogen loss and improving nitrogen fertilizer use efficiency in fertilized soils in semi-arid regions. Using active and passive sensors to detect maize nitrogen stress, predict grain yield and determine in-season and additional side-dress applications of nitrogen fertilizer it is possible to reduce environmental impacts.
Jie Xu, China
Focus: Drought stress in maize root systems
Jie Xu.
An associate researcher at Sichuan Agricultural University, China, Jie Xu is interested in how maize roots influence performance under drought stress. By studying maize inbred lines that exhibit different drought tolerance, her research explores their genome and transcriptome variations to understand the genetic basis of plant adaptation to drought. The findings can then be used in breeding drought-tolerant maize.
Jie Xu and her team have developed methods to dissect the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms underlying maize drought stress response. This work involves the identification of non-synonymous SNPs and corresponding candidate genes for drought tolerance using analyses such as common variant and clustering techniques. Her team also revealed the impact smRNAs and histone modifications have in the regulation of maize drought stress response.
Vignesh Muthusamy, India
Focus: Development of biofortified provitamin-A rich QPM maize hybrids
Vignesh Muthusamy.
Vignesh Muthusamy is from a farming community in the Namakkal district in Tamil Nadu. A Senior Scientist at the Division of Genetics, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, he specializes in maize genetics and breeding. His research demonstrates the use of modern biotechnological tools in crop improvement. He was associated with the development of Indiaâs first provitamin A enriched maize hybrid âPusa Vivek QPM 9 Improvedâ and with the development of three quality protein maize hybrids that possess high lysine and tryptophan in protein. These biofortified maize hybrids offer tremendous scope to address widespread human malnutrition. Further research work includes the development of a high-yielding sweet corn hybrid and several novel maize genetic resources for nutritional quality traits.
Muthusamy has received many prestigious awards from different societies and scientific organizations, including Jawaharlal Nehru Award for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Research in Agricultural and Allied Sciences from Indian Council of Agricultural Research. As Principal Investigator, he is handling projects funded by Department of Biotechnology and Department of Science & Technology, Government of India for development of nutritionally rich maize and specialty corn genotypes. Besides research, he is also actively involved in teaching and guidance of post graduate students of the institute.
CHANGE AGENT
Samjhana Khanal, Nepal
Focus: Social inclusion of young people and site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) using Nutrient ExpertÂź
Samjhana Khanal.
Samjhana Khanal, an agricultural graduate, has founded and co-founded various social organizations at a local level in Nepal to involve young minds in the development of innovative strategies to work towards sustainable agriculture and zero hunger.
Besides taking part in agricultural trainings, workshops and conferences during her undergraduate degree, Samjhana worked as a R&D Research Assistant at the Eastern Regional Agricultural Directorate in Nepal and has published a number of research papers. Her most recent research involves the productivity and profitability of hybrid maize using the Nutrient ExpertÂź Maize model in eastern Terai, Nepal. Using Nutrient ExpertÂź, a dynamic nutrient management tool based on site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) principles, farm-specific fertilizer recommendations for maize are possible, resulting in higher grain yield and improved productivity and profits for farmers.
A new 3-D animation video published yesterday shows farmers how to scout for and identify the fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda).
The video shows scouting techniques and highlights the importance of identifying any pest damage at the early stages of crop growth. If the fall armyworm is present, integrated pest management practices can help farmers protect against this pest.
Farmers should avoid applying an indiscriminate amount of chemical pesticides, as that will lead to the fall armyworm building resistance to pesticides. It may also cause harm to people and to the environment.
The video was produced by Scientific Animations Without Borders (SAWBO), funded by USAID and developed by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and Michigan State University.
After receiving training from CIMMYT, this group of young men started a small business offering mechanized agricultural services to smallholder farmers near their town in rural Zimbabwe. (Photo: Matthew OâLeary/CIMMYT)
The sound of an engine roars as Gift Chawara, a 28-year-old from rural Zimbabwe, carefully removes a mesh bag bulging with maize grain hooked to his mechanized sheller. Fed with dried maize cobs, the sheller separates the grain from the shaft before shooting the kernels out the side into the awaiting bag. Chawara swiftly replaces the full bag with an empty one as the kernels continue to spill out.
It is eleven in the morning and the sun beats down over the small farm. Chawara and his friends have only been working a few hours and have already shelled 7 tons for their neighbor and customer Loveness Karimuno; thirteen more tons to go.
The widowed farmer watches as the bags of grain line up, ready for her to take to market. It used to take Karimuno two to three weeks to shell her maize harvest by hand, even with the help of hired labor. This grueling task saw her rub each maize ear on a rough surface to remove the grain from the shaft. Now, these young men and their mechanized sheller will do it in just a few hours for a small fee.
âWhen my neighbor told me the boys were shelling small amounts of maize at reasonable prices, I got in contact with them,â said Karimuno. âItâs cheaper than hiring people to help me do it manually and the speed means I can sell it faster.â
It used to take widowed farmer Loveness Karimuno (left) two or three weeks to shell her 20-ton maize harvest manually, even with the help of hired labor. Using mechanization services, all of her maize is shelled within a day, meaning she can take her grain to market faster. (Photo: Matthew OâLeary/CIMMYT)
The group of young entrepreneurs is serving almost 150 family farms around the village of Mwanga, located about two hours northwest of the capital Harare. They offer services such as shelling and planting, powered by special machinery. Since Chawara and his partners started the business three years ago, word has spread and now they are struggling to keep up with demand, he expressed.
The five young men are among the increasing number of youth across eastern and southern Africa creating a stable living as entrepreneurs in agricultural mechanization service provision, Baudron said.
Tired of the lack of profitable work in their rural community, the group of youths jumped on the opportunity to join a training on agricultural mechanization, run by CIMMYT. They heard about this training through local extension workers.
âWe would probably be out of work if we hadnât had the opportunity to learn how agricultural mechanization can be used to help smallholder farmers and gain skills to run our own business to provide these services,â Chawara expressed as he took a quick rest from shelling under a tree.
âIt has really changed our lives. Last season we shelled over 300 tons of maize making just under US $7,000,â he said. âIt has gone a long way in helping us support our families and invest back into our business.â
Masimba Mawire, 30, and Gift Chawara, 28, take a break from shelling and rest under a tree. The small car behind was bought by Chawara with his profits earned from the mechanization service business. (Photo: Matthew OâLeary/CIMMYT)
Chawara and his partners attended one of these trainings, hosted on the grounds of an agricultural technical college on the outskirts of Harare. For a week, they participated in practical courses led by local agriculture and business experts.
As part of the CIMMYT research project, the youth group paid a commitment fee and were loaned a planter and sheller to start their business, which they are now paying off with their profits.
Youth tend to be better at managing modern technologies and successfully take to service providing, said Baudron, who leads the FACASI project.
âWe found consistently, in all countries where we work, that being a successful service provider is highly correlated to being young,â he highlighted. âHowever, other factors are also important, such as being entrepreneurial, educated, able to contribute to the cost of the machinery and preferably having an experience in similar businesses, particularly in mechanics.â
(From left to right) Shepard Kawiz, 24, gathers dried maize cobs into a bucket passing it to his brother Pinnot Karwizi, 26, who pours the maize into the sheller machine by feeding the hopper. The maize falls into the shellerâs barrel where high-speed rotation separates the grain from the cob. As the bare shafts are propelled out one side, Masimba Mawire, 30, is there to catch and dispose of them. Meanwhile, Gift Chawara, 28, is making sure a bag is securely hooked to the machine to collect the maize grain. (Photo: Matthew OâLeary/CIMMYT)
Mentoring and support are key to success
The young men operate like a well-oiled machine. Shepard Kawiz, 24, gathers dried maize cobs into a bucket and passes it to his brother Pinnot Karwizi, 26, who pours the maize into the sheller machine by feeding the hopper. The maize falls into the shellerâs barrel where high-speed rotation separates the grain from the cob. As bare shafts are propelled out one side, Masimba Mawire, 30, is there to catch and dispose of them. Meanwhile, Gift Chawara is making sure a bag is securely hooked to the machine to collect the maize grain.
Trials showed that when youth form a group and are provided guidance they are more inclined to succeed as service providers, explained CIMMYT agribusiness development specialist Dorcas Matangi.
âThe group model works because they share the costs, the workload and they are more attractive to lenders when looking for investment capital,â she remarked.
Throughout the season, Mantangi works with local government extension workers and engineers from the University of Zimbabwe to mentor those starting out. They also organize meetings where service providers can gather to discuss challenges and opportunities.
âThis is a good opportunity to iron out any problems with the machines, connect them with mechanics and spare part providers and we gain their feedback to improve the design of machinery,â she added.
Mechanization backs resilient farming systems
CIMMYT has provided a model to promote the use of agricultural mechanization among smallholder farmers through service providers, affirmed Misheck Chingozha, a mechanization officer with Zimbabweâs Ministry of Agriculture.
Farm machinery helps farmers implement sustainable crop practices that benefit from greater farm power and precision,â he said. âThis is in line with the governmentâs strategy to promote conservation agriculture â defined by minimal soil disturbance, crop residue retention and diversification through crop rotation and intercropping.â
CIMMYT promotes small-scale mechanization, such as two-wheel tractor-based technologies, including direct seeding planters that reduce labor and allow for improved resource allocation when implementing these practices, described CIMMYTâs Baudron.
Conservation agriculture is a sustainable intensification practice that seeks to produce more food, improve nutrition and livelihoods, and boost rural incomes without an increase in inputs â such as land and water â thus reducing environmental impacts.
With support from CIMMYT, students at the University of Zimbabwe are working to develop agricultural machinery fitted to the environmental conditions and needs of farmers in their country and other parts of Africa. (Photo: Matthew OâLeary/CIMMYT)
Students fuel next-generation machinery
As part of their degree, students at the University of Zimbabwe are working with CIMMYT to continuously improve the effectiveness and efficiency of agricultural machinery.
In a bid to improve the allocation of resources, agricultural engineering student Ronald Mhlanga, 24, worked on a prototype that uses sensors to monitor the amount of seed and fertilizer distributed by planters attached to two-wheel tractors. The device sends information to the driver if anything goes off course, helping farmers improve precision and save resources.
âOften planters will get clogged with mud blocking seeding. The sensors identify this and send a signal to the driver,â said Mhlanga. âThis allows the driver to focus on driving and limits wasted resources.â
Learning from farmer feedback and working with agricultural engineers and the private sector, CIMMYT is building agricultural mechanization suited to the needs and conditions of sub-Saharan African farms, concluded Baudron.
At CIMMYTâs Science Week 2018, Nature Genetics Senior Editor Catherine Potenski spoke on how to publish plant genomics research that has broad, novel impact.
Having research that is high-impact is not only critical to doing excellent science that has meaning, but also a premier way to let the research community know what you are doing and reach a broader audience, according to Catherine Potenski, Senior Editor at Nature Genetics, one of the more than 70 high-quality academic journals of publishing company Springer Nature.
âPlant genomics is an exciting field that is a priority for Nature Genetics given climate change and other challenges,â said Potenski. âWe look for studies with novelty, a genetics scope and resource value.â
Nature Genetics is highly selective and publishes approximately 200 papers per year. Potenski wants to make the editorial review process more productive and simple for researchers so they can share their best work.
âYou should organize your paper to highlight the impact of the findings and write a cover letter that places your work in context, highlighting what gap of knowledge it fills and how others will use this research,â explained Potenski. In addition, scientists should target the right journal for their research. In case of doubt, they can send a pre-submission inquiry and work with editors.
Impact is not always immediate, and the impact factor is not necessarily a good or proven metric. âThe first CRISPR articles published in the early 2000s are now very impactful, but nobody knew the impact they would have then. Just because it is not in a high-impact journal, it does not mean it is not high-impact,â she said.
Potenski shared the six questions plant researchers should ask themselves when submitting research to Nature Genetics.
Is my main approach genetic?
Your main analyses should be based on genetic screens, Quantitative Trait Locus (QTL) mapping, genome re-sequencing or other genetic approaches. If the main analysis of a paper is in transcriptomics, imaging or biochemistry, this could be considered off scope (but fine if they are secondary analyses).
Are the findings highly novel?
Your research should reflect a new method or finding that is really groundbreaking. Findings that just provide insight into a known process, are confirmatory or incremental do not meet Natureâs standards. If the finding is only new for a specific crop, that might also not be sufficiently novel.
Is there a large user group for the data?
Bigger is usually always better; you want your research to apply to or benefit as many people as possible. If the crop you are studying is widely consumed like wheat, or you have a large study scope such as large-scale GWAS (Genome-Wide Association Study) analysis, that will impact many more people than if you are studying watermelons using single QTL mapping.
Is this a very large or unique dataset?
You want large, high-quality datasets and analyses that are unique and other groups cannot easily repeat. Ideally this leads to a new approach in your field. Data that are open and easily available, and studies using the latest technologies also get priority.
Do the findings provide biological insights?
You want people reading your study to learn something new about plant biology. Instead of merely reporting domestication patterns, you want something new about the mechanisms of evolution or adaptation. Editors look for comprehensive, molecular mechanistic insight into the processes studied.
Is there evidence for crop improvement?
Editors prioritize studies with potential for crop improvement, especially in the context of climate change and food security. You want your research to be demonstrated in a crop plant, ideally in the physical plant and not in a model simulation.
Despite the rising interest in advanced methods to discover useful genes for breeding in crops like wheat, the role of crop physiology research is now more important than ever, according to Gemma Molero, a wheat physiologist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).
âPhysiology starts with the physical, observable plant,â Molero said. “It attempts to understand plant traits and processes and, ultimately, to provide breeders with selectable traits. Take for example the plantâs ability to capture and use sunlight. This is a complex trait and there are no useful DNA markers for it, so we have to analyze how it works and then help breeders to select plants that use sunlight better and yield more grain.â
A key goal of breeders and physiologists is to boost wheatâs genetic yield potential dramatically. Progress through current breeding is less than 1 percent each year. Molero said that needs to go to 1.7 percent yearly, to meet the demand expected by 2050 from expanding and urbanizing populations.
âScience must also adapt wheat to rising temperatures, less water, and mutating disease strains, and physiology is contributing,â she added.
Applied science and fieldwork drew Molero to CIMMYT
Molero grew up near Barcelona, Spain, in a family that included a folk-healing grandmother and a grandfather whose potato fields and orchards she recalls helping to tend as a child, during summers in Granada.
âMy family called me âsanturronaâ â something like âgoody-two-shoesâ in English â because I was always trying to help people around me,â Molero explained.
âAraus was an example of persistence and enthusiasm for me,â Molero explained. âHe sent me to the CIMMYT research station near Ciudad ObregĂłn, in northwestern Mexico, for fieldwork as part of my Ph.D. research. That sealed the deal. I said âThis is the type of work where I can have impact, in an interdisciplinary setting, and with fieldwork.â â
She joined CIMMYT in 2011 as a post-doctoral fellow with Matthew Reynolds, a CIMMYT distinguished scientist who leads wheat physiology research.
Wheat spikes hold grain and catch light
Molero has quickly made a mark in CIMMYT wheat physiology research. Among other achievements, she has spearheaded studies on photosynthesis in wheat spikes â the small ears that hold the grain â to increase yield.
âIn elite wheat varieties, spike photosynthesis adds an average 30 percent to grain yield,â she said. âIn wheat wild relatives and landraces, that can go as high as 60 percent. This has put wheat spike photosynthesis in the science limelight.â
Practical outputs of this work, which involves numerous partners, include molecular markers and other tools that breeders can use to select for high spike photosynthesis in experimental lines. âWe have a project with Bayer Crop Science to refine the methods,â Molero said.
Molero is also collaborating with plant biologists Stephen Long, University of Illinois, and Elizabete Carmo-Silva, Lancaster University, UK, to understand how quickly wheat returns to full photosynthesis after being shaded â for example, when clouds pass overhead. According to Molero, wheat varies greatly in its response to shading; over a long cropping season, quick recoveries can add 20 percent or more to total productivity.
âThis is a breakthrough in efforts to boost wheat yields,â explained Molero, who had met Long through his participation in the International Wheat Yield Partnership (IWYP), an initiative that aims to raise wheatâs genetic yield potential by 50 percent over the next two decades. âI was fortunate to arrive at CIMMYT at just the right time, when IWYP and similar global partnerships were being formalized.â
Training youth and improving conditions for young women
From a post-doctoral fellow to her current position as a full scientist at CIMMYT, Molero has supervised 13 Ph.D. students and post-doctoral fellows, as well as serving as an instructor in many training courses.
âDuring my first crop cycle at Ciudad ObregĂłn, I was asked to coordinate the work of five Ph.D. students,â she said. âIâd arrive home exhausted from long days and fall asleep reading papers. But I love supervising students and itâs a great way to learn about diverse facets of wheat physiology.â
Regarding the challenges for women and youth in the scientific community, Molero believes a lot needs to change.
âScience is male-dominated and fieldwork even more,â she observed. âItâs challenging being a woman and being young â conditions over which we have no control but which can somehow blind peers to our scientific knowledge and capacity. Instances of what I call âmicro-machismoâ may appear small but they add up and, if you push back, the perceived âfeminismâ makes some male scientists uncomfortable.â
Molero also believes young scientists need ample room to develop. âThe most experienced generation has to let the new generation grow and make mistakes.â
ROME — A new training manual is set to provide practical guidance for agricultural mechanization entrepreneurs in rural areas, where family farmers commonly lack capital to invest in the farm power required to increase food production.
The five-module training manual targeted at farm mechanization hire service providers, including youth and women, was developed by researchers at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and official launched July 13 at FAO’s Rome headquarters.
It sets out a syllabus which trainers can tailor to local environments to equip entrepreneurs with essential business skills and knowledge to promote appropriate mechanization farmers need to sustainably intensify production, said Josef Kienzle, an agricultural engineer at FAO.
The manual will initially be rolled out in sub-Saharan African rural communities where improved access to agricultural mechanization is crucial, he said.
Small-scale mechanization, such as two-wheel tractor based technologies including direct seed planters, represent a shift away from destructively intensive agriculture. However, the decline of hire tractor schemes means resource-poor farmers often lack the financial means to obtain them, said Bruno Gerard, director of CIMMYTâs sustainable intensification program.
âTo increase the productivity, profitability, and sustainability of their farms, family farmers need greater access to affordable yield-enhancing inputs. Hire service providers can improve access to mechanization that reduces labor drudgery and promotes sustainable intensification practices,â he said.
Sustainable intensification seeks to produce more food, improve nutrition and livelihoods, and boost rural incomes without an increase in inputs â such as land and water â thus reducing environmental impacts.
âInclusive mechanization strategies create an enabling environment and provide a framework for making decisions on how to allocate resources, how to address current challenges, how to take advantage of opportunities that arise while in the meantime emphasize the concept of sustainable crop intensification and the roles of the private and public sectors,â said Kienzle. Farm machinery enables farmers to adopt sustainable crop production intensification practices â such as conservation agriculture â that benefit from greater farm power and precision.
The manual will be initially distributed and courses organized through FAO and CIMMYT field projects in sub-Saharan Africa utilizing local trainers and experts in machinery and agribusiness, he said. The manual is expected to be rolled out to other subregional offices and hubs in the future.
Clara Chikuni has gained a reliable income since becoming a mechanization service provider and offering maize shelling in her local area. (Photo: Matthew OâLeary/CIMMYT)
Clara Chikuni, a mother from rural Zimbabwe, has secured a stable income after starting her own mechanized shelling business two years ago. Servicing maize farmers in a 5 kilometer radius of her home, Chikuni has more customers than she says she can handle and has developed reliable employment compared to her previous job buying and selling shoes.
âThere is a lot of demand for mechanized maize shelling services. I am happy I can provide a service to the community and make money to support my family,â she said. âI hope with the profits I can move into the two wheel tractor business in the future.â
âThe training and support gave me the know-how and confidence to start my business,â said the mother. âOther women now ask me how I did it and I encourage them to also get involved.â
There is a market for farming mechanization services that can make a big difference for a smallholder farm and help it transition from subsistence farming to a more market-oriented farming enterprise, said FAOâs Kienzle.
Apart from hire services, mechanization creates additional opportunities for new business with repair and maintenance of equipment, sales and dealership of related businesses including transport and agro-processing along the value chain.
The knowledge and expertise of both CIMMYT and FAO combined has made this manual unique and very praxis oriented, focused on smallholder mechanization businesses, he said.
Dipty Roy operating her power take-off machinery in the village of Taltola, Rajbari. Photo: Rowshan Anis/iDE
In Bangladesh, women disproportionately face social stigmas regarding appropriate behaviors and working roles which often keep women out of entrepreneurship and leadership roles and limit their roles to household chores like child-rearing and cooking. These restrictions have kept many women from reaching their maximum potential and contributing fully to the economy, especially in the agricultural sector, which has long been limited by the restricted participation of women.
Before the arrival of appropriate-scale machinery, such as the power tiller operated seeder (PTOS), seeding jute had been a daunting venture in Baliadangi in Rajbari District. The fatiguing task of preparing land for seeding, sowing seeds by digging soil and simultaneously planting posed a nearly insurmountable challenge. Today, Dipty Roy, a female LSP from the small village of Taltola, Baliadangi pushes her PTOS forward and effortlessly seeds her jute.
Roy has become a repository of knowledge concerning seeds because of her role in the operations of the seeder. She, like 74 other female LSPs, upon gaining PTOS training from CIMMYT, plans to not just be a machinery owner, but leap onto business ownership. As a successful PTOS service provider with high hopes and ambitions, Roy aspires to build a business where she employs and trains machinery operators and makes a larger contribution to agriculture.
âThere is something magnificent about running oneâs own business. The overwhelming feeling of taking charge and making an invaluable contribution would speak volumes for my personal growth and economic standing,â says Roy.
The channeling of resources, endeavors, hopes and optimism towards the development of women entrepreneurs has now become paramount. CIMMYT through CSISA-MI in USAIDâs Feed the Future zone in Bangladesh empowers rural women to advocate for and serve the needs of their employees, to provide machinery operation training, to estimate costs and benefits and run a viable machinery driven business. The emergence of women entrepreneurs in agriculture is powerful- it can propel the rural population into self- sustaining individuals who can effectively take charge of a business and catalyze the development of the economy.
As they move closer to shattering the once impenetrable glass ceiling â they are now leading the way for a new generation of women LSPs who aspire to hold entrepreneurship roles in Bangladeshi agriculture.
In the tribal belt of Mayurbhanj, Odisha, maize cultivation is becoming increasingly popular. Thousands of acres of fallow upland areas are suitable for maize cultivation during the kharif (monsoon) season due to the availability of rain, a slopy landscape and porous red soil. As maize is considered a âwomenâs crop,â meaning that it is mainly cultivated by women, the expansion of maize can increase womenâs economic opportunities as well. The Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) has worked in Mayurbhanj since 2013 to increase agricultural productivity and diversify livelihood options for farmers. One way to maximize the productivity of their arable upland areas is to cultivate maize on previously fallowed land during kharif.
In 2017, CSISA held and event in Badbil village at which 130 members of 10 different self-help groups showcased their work on commercial maize cultivation from the previous year. Members of Baitarani Maa Shibani, a womenâs self-helf group from Tangabila village with a 12-year history of participating in agricultural programs in the area were impressed with the successes they saw and felt inspired to cultivate maize themselves.
After some discussion within the group, six of the 16 members decided to start cultivating maize as soon as possible. The group allowed these women to take a loan from their joint savings to cover start-up costs. Having also received support from their husbands, despite skepticism in some cases, the six women proceeded to plant maize on fallow land as villagers looked on critically.
Women from the Baitarani Maa Shibani womenâs self-help group who decided to take on maize cultivation. Photo: D. Vedachalam/CIMMYT.
The women approached a community resource person from a womenâs group in the Sayangsidha Federation to learn how to cultivate maize, as the community resource person had already attended trainings organized by CSISA and the Department of Agriculture. They also sought guidance from other maize farmers, as well as from CSISA. One of the women worked with the state Horticulture Department and was permitted to grow crops during off-season on a 37 acre plot of land. This opportunity gave the women immediate access to land.
CSISA suggested that they only cultivate 10 acres the first year as planting in the last week of July meant they had missed optimal sowing time for maize, which runs from the first week of June until mid-July. CSISA-trained service providers helped the group complete sowing within two days, following best-bet management practices for land preparation and sowing, including integrated weed management using herbicides and power weeders, sensible fertilizer use and post-harvest management to maintain high quality dry grain. The group also visited a large CSISA and Department of Agriculture event in the tribal-dominated village of Kashipal. Interacting with other farmers and seeing their successes boosted the womensâ confidence, especially when they saw what they could achieve the following year if they sowed their crop earlier.
At the end of the season, the women harvested 11 metric tons of good quality dry grain. CSISA, the Department of Agriculture and the district administration facilitated the procurement of this grain by Venkateswara Hatchery, one of the leading poultry production plants in the region, at a price of $223 (INR 14,500) per metric ton. This group of six women farmers had invested $923 (INR 60,000) for maize cultivation and earned $2,453 (INR 159,500). They were able to repay their loan and keep the rest of the profit as savings. The women felt proud and confident knowing they had set an example for other group members and men in the village who did not believe it would work.
Following this success, in the 2018 kharif season, more farmers (both men and women) are planning to utilize fallow land for maize cultivation. This will help farmers increase their income, and improve their collective access to markets, since their total grain production will be larger and better able to meet the needs of local industry.
Unfortunately, Baitarani Maa Shibani has not been given access to the same piece of land this year, so they have planned to cultivate maize on 10 acres of their own land in the plantation area. This change in fortune mirrors the cautionary tale reflected in the experience of maize-cultivating women of Badbil village, who also found it harder to get access to leasable land following their economic success in 2016. However, women in Mayurbhanj are still optimistic. Inspired by the success of Baitarani Maa Shibani, another group, Baitarani Maa Duarsani, is now planning to cultivate maize this season.
A decade earlier in Mayurbhanj, women often did not even step out of their houses. They feared going to the market or to the bank. Now, through opportunities afforded by economic development programs and collaborations such as the one with CSISA, women often hold leadership positions in their groups, go to the bank and are active members of their village. Money earned by self-help groups is frequently used to educate children as members want their daughters to be educated and have better opportunities.
The enthusiastic women who stepped forward to cultivate maize in the face of so much uncertainty are an example of what women can achieve through collective effort, dedication, hard work and determination, as well as by tapping into the potential productivity of the fallow land around them. CSISA will continue to facilitate partnerships, technical trainings and market linkages in Mayurbhanj to support income generation amongst womenâs groups and tribal communities through the cultivation of maize and companion crops.
The Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) was established in 2009 with a goal of benefiting more than 8 million farmers by the end of 2020. The project is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and is led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and implemented jointly with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). Operating in rural âinnovation hubsâ in Bangladesh, India and Nepal, CSISA works to increase the adoption of various resource-conserving and climate-resilient technologies, and improve farmersâ access to market information and enterprise development. CSISA supports women farmers by improving their access and exposure to modern and improved technological innovations, knowledge and entrepreneurial skills. CSISA works in synergy with regional and national efforts, collaborating with myriad public, civil society and private-sector partners.
About the authors:Â Sujata Ganguly is Research Consultant for CIMMYT and Wasim Iftikar is a Research Associate.
The third installment of the 2018 maize lethal necrosis (MLN) phenotyping (screening/ indexing) cycle will be held in July 2018 at the MLN artificial inoculation screening site in Naivasha, Kenya. Interested organizations from both the private and public sectors are invited to send maize germplasm for screening.
CIMMYT and partners are dedicated to stopping the spread of this deadly maize disease by effectively managing the risk of MLN on maize production through screening and identifying MLN-resistant germplasm. The MLN screening facility supports countries in sub-Saharan Africa to screen maize germplasm (for hybrid, inbred and open pollinated varieties) against MLN in a quarantined environment.
This is the largest dedicated MLN screening facility in East Africa. Since its inception in 2013, the facility has evaluated more than 120,000 accessions (more than 210,000 rows of maize) from more than 15 multinational and national seed companies and national research programs.
Partners can now plan for annual MLN Phenotyping (Screening / Indexing) during 2018 with the below mentioned schedule. The improved and streamlined approach for MLN phenotyping should enable our partners to accelerate breeding programs to improve resistance for Maize MLN for sub-Saharan Africa.
Schedule for 2018 â annual phenotyping (Indexing / Screening).
When the seeds are availableÂ
Planting Period â Planned
MLN Screening / Indexing
December
Second Week of January
MLN Indexing
March
Second week of April
MLN Screening
June
Second Week of July
MLN Indexing
August
Second Week of September
MLN Screening
October
Second week of November
MLN Indexing
More information about the disease and resources for farmers can be found on CIMMYTâs MLN portal.
Please note that it can take up to six weeks to process imports and clear shipments.
For assistance in obtaining import permits and necessary logistics for the upcoming screening, please contact:
Dr. L.M. Suresh
Tel: +254 20 7224600 (direct)
Email:Â l.m.suresh@cgiar.org
CIMMYTâKenya, ICRAF House
United Nations Avenue, Gigiri
P.O. Box 1041â00621
Nairobi, Kenya.
Participants of the international training. Photo: S.Thapa/CIMMYT-Nepal
Improved seed with proper management practices is an important agricultural input which can boost crop productivity by more than 50 percent. This gain is necessary to achieve food security and alleviate poverty in many developing countries. However, it can be challenging for farmers to find high-quality seeds as availability, affordability and accessibility remain hurdles to improved seed distribution. Â In Nepal, the majority of rural farmers use farm-saved seeds of inferior quality leading to low productivity and subsistence livelihood.
The seed industry in Nepal, as in most developing countries, is still emerging and largely untapped. Lack of availability of start-up working capital, business incentives in the sector, new technologies and required technical expertise limit the current seed value chain.
To address this, the Nepal Seed and Fertilizer (NSAF) project is engaging Nepalese seed companies in a business mentoring process to enhance their ability to test and deploy new products, develop business and marketing plans and sustain a viable, competitive seed business, particularly in hybrid seeds.
The NSAF project, in collaboration with the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) & the Seed Entrepreneurs Association of Nepal (SEAN) organized an âInternational Training Workshop on Seed Business Managementâ for senior-level seed company managers and business owners representing 15 private seed companies from Nepal and Pakistan. Held from April 23 to 25 in Kathmandu, the training aimed to develop market-oriented seed businesses that emphasize hybrid seed. The training focused on increasing the technical, financial and market management capacities of senior managers and conveying the requirements of a competitive seed business using case studies from Africa and Asia.
Navin Hada, AID project development specialist at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-Nepal highlighted the timeliness of the training and congratulated the NSAF team for bringing south Asian seed companies and international experts together for experience sharing and collaborations.
âSEAN has more than 2000 registered members in Nepal and business-oriented training like this help our members to enhance their efficiency,â said Laxmi Kant Dhakal, chairman of SEAN and president of the Unique Seed Co Plc.
Suma Karki from Seed Quality Control Center (SQCC) of Nepal receiving certification of participation Photo: E. Kohkar/CIMMYT-Pakistan.
The training was facilitated by John MacRobert, a consultant for business mentoring of Nepalese seed companies and former principal seed system specialist for CIMMYT with the support of the NSAF team. The training workshop included lectures, discussions and customized exercises to develop business plans; marketing, production and financial strategies; seed quality control; and research and development plans.
During the reflection session to close the training, Dyutiman Choudhary, NSAF project coordinator, appreciated the professional interaction and experience sharing among Nepalese and Pakistani seed companies and acknowledged the role of MacRobert in bringing diverse experiences from Africa and other regions.
At the closing ceremony, Yubak Dhoj G.C, secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Land Management and Co-operative, emphasized the importance of hybrid seed self-sufficiency for Government of Nepal initiatives for attaining food security and alleviating poverty.
The Nepal Seed and Fertilizer project is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and is a flagship project in Nepal. NSAF aims to build a competitive and synergistic seed and fertilizer systems for inclusive and sustainable growth in agricultural productivity, business development, and income generation in Nepal. The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)-led, USAID-funded, Agricultural Innovation Program (AIP) for Pakistan supported the participation of Pakistani seed companies to the training.Â
Work plan signing ceremony, Kropff and Mohapatra. Photo: CIMMYT.
Last week director general of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Martin Kropff touched down in India.
For Kropff, the visit would help establish and strengthen several strong private-sector partnerships for CIMMYT, including with UPL Limited, the largest manufacturer of agrochemicals in India.
During his trip, Kropff hosted all India-based staff and partners to a gala dinner to give updates from the headquarters in Mexico and thank stakeholders for their valuable contributions to the CIMMYT mission of i mproving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers.
Kropff spoke at a âClimate-smart agriculture as an investment destination for CSRâ talk organized by the CGIAR program on Climate Change and Food Security (CCAFS), the Borlaug Institute of South Asia (BISA) and CIMMYT in association with The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry partners.
The visit culminated in the Ninth Executive Committee Meeting for BISA. BISA is a collaboration between CIMMYT and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). The committee reviewed BISA’s financial and research updates, ICAR reiterated its commitment and support to BISA and ICAR director general, Trilochan Mohapatra and Kropff signed the ICAR-CIMMYT five-year work plan for 2018-2022. The work plan was co-developed in consultation with ICAR and CIMMYT scientists and outlines areas of synergy and priority such as exchange of germplasm, technologies, technical cooperation, personnel, joint experimentation, joint publications and capacity enhancement in several frontier areas of research.
Suraya Parvin (left), Senior Scientific Officer of BARC, discussing with the facilitator in the training. Photo: Jitendra Raj Bajracharya/ICIMOD.
The training strengthened the remote sensing capabilities of professionals from BARC and BARI in using satellite-based remote sensing tools and crop mapping to monitor drought risks. During the training, participants were exposed to a number of remote sensing and geographic information systems tools including SPIRITS, QGIS, ArcMap, GeoCLIM as well as a foundation course to Google Earth Engine. Additionally, open source platform to perform online and offline data collection using mobile application training was provided.This learning exchange took place in order to address the risks for agricultural drought in portions of north-western Bangladesh where farmers may lack access to, or cannot afford irrigation. This leads to bottlenecks in crop productivity and can impair the livelihoods of smallholder farmers reliant on variable and unpredictable precipitation. Access to quality drought monitoring and forecasting could assist farmers in adapting to these climactic risks. Meteorological and agricultural research institutions play a crucial role in providing improved information flow and drought risks advisories to farmers.
Mir Matin, theme leader of Geospatial Solutions, ICIMOD, organized the training on behalf of CSRD and ICIMOD, alongside Rajesh Bahadur Thapa, capacity building specialist, ICIMOD. ICIMODâs Bhoj Raj also facilitated sessions on application of these tools.
âBangladesh, especially the northern region, is most susceptible to drought and it is difficult to grow year-round crops here,â said Suraya Parvin, senior scientific officer of BARC. âTo increase the cropping intensity in this region, drought monitoring is very essential. I think this training was extremely useful to prepare us for this challenge.â
The CSRD partnership and ICIMOD are working together to establish user-oriented platforms for the provision of easily accessible, timely and decision relevant scientific information, in the form of climate services. âThis training, and the applied science products that will come from it, will be a crucial part of efforts to increase the resilience of Bangladeshâs smallholder farmers to climatic risks,â said Timothy J. Krupnik, systems agronomist, CIMMYT and CSRD project leader. âWorking with the graduates of the training on a day-to-day basis, we expect to deepen BARC and BARIâs contributions to applied climate services in Bangladesh.â
