Climate change threatens to reduce global crop production, and poor people in tropical environments will be hit the hardest. More than 90% of CIMMYTâs work relates to climate change, helping farmers adapt to shocks while producing more food, and reduce emissions where possible. Innovations include new maize and wheat varieties that withstand drought, heat and pests; conservation agriculture; farming methods that save water and reduce the need for fertilizer; climate information services; and index-based insurance for farmers whose crops are damaged by bad weather. CIMMYT is an important contributor to the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security.
NAIROBI, Kenya (CIMMYT) â When a strange maize disease suddenly appeared in 2011 in Bomet, a small town 230 kilometers (143 miles) west of Kenyaâs capital city, Nairobi, scientists from CIMMYT and Kenya Agricultural Livestock and Research Organization were thrown into disarray. The disease, later identified as Maize Lethal Necrosis (MLN), became a nightmare for maize scientists leading many to work around the clock to find a solution to stop its rapid spread. As intensive research and screening work started, it became apparent that there was a dire need to fill a glaring information gap on the disease, particularly regarding MLNâs geographic distribution, the number of farmers affected, the levels of yield loss and the impact of those losses.
To address this gap, surveys were conducted with groups of male and female farmers in over 120 sub-locations of Kenyaâs maize production zones in a recent study âCommunity-survey based assessment of the geographic distribution and impact of maize lethal necrosis (MLN) disease in Kenya.â Â The results estimate maize losses from MLN at half a million tons per year with the highest losses reported in western Kenya. Â The study identified an urgent need to develop improved maize varieties resistant to MLN and emphasized the need for farmers to be informed and adapt appropriate agronomic practices to cope with the disease.
Read more about this research and other related studies on MLN from CIMMYT Scientists.
Community-survey based assessment of the geographic distribution and impact of maize lethal necrosis (MLN) disease in Kenya. 2016. Hugo De Groote, Francis Oloo, Songporne Tongruksawattana, Biswanath Das. Crop Protection Volume 82, April 2016, Pages 30â35
MLN pathogen diagnosis, MLN-free seed production and safe exchange to non-endemic countries. 2015. Monica Mezzalama, Biswanath Das, B. M. Prasanna
Genome-wide association and genomic prediction of resistance to maize lethal necrosis disease in tropical maize germplasm. 2015. Manje Gowda, Biswanath Das, Dan Makumbi, Raman Babu, Kassa Semagn, George Mahuku, Michael S. Olsen, Jumbo M. Bright, Yoseph Beyene, B. M. Prasanna. Theoretical and Applied Genetics
Farmer Ram Shubagh Chaudhary in his wheat fields, in Uttar Pradesh, India. CIMMYT/Petr Kosina
NEW DELHI (CIMMYT) — Rice-wheat rotation is practiced by farmers on over 13 million hectares of farmland in South Asia, providing the primary source of food security in the region. However, climate change is projected to have a huge impact and reduce agricultural production 10 to 50 percent by 2050. Complex and local impacts from climate change and other challenges require solutions to risks that can be readily-adapted. Representatives from Bayer Crop Science recently visited the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) offices in India to discuss the potential for developing jointly managed sustainable approaches and technologies to address such challenges.
Sustainable intensification, which involves such conservation agriculture practices as minimal soil disturbance, permanent soil cover and the use of crop rotation to increase profits, protect the environment, maintain and boost yields, is a potential solution that has worked to address the impact of climate change in South Asia. Such practices contribute to improved soil function and quality, which can improve resilience to climate variability.
âSystems research with conservation agriculture practices like direct seeded rice, no-till wheat and recycling crop residues have shown tremendous potential to address the challenges of water and labor scarcity, conserve natural resources and lower the environmental footprint of South Asiaâs food bowl,â said M.L. Jat, CIMMYT senior cropping systems agronomist and the South Asia coordinator for the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security, collaboratively managed by the CGIAR consortium of international agricultural researchers.
During the Bayer meeting, challenges and opportunities were identified for direct seeded rice — which requires less labor and tends to mature faster than transplanted crops — and sustainable intensification programs throughout South Asia, particularly in India. Discussions were based on the success of other CIMMYT-Bayer collaborations across South Asia that aim to address agricultural challenges through sustainable intensification — including direct seeded rice — quantifying mitigation potential of conservation agriculture-based management in rice-wheat rotation and smart farm mechanization to make farm management more efficient and productive.
Moving forward, CIMMYT and Bayer will focus on agricultural systems research to ensure even more effective interventions with higher yields, collaborate to develop new sustainable technology and increase uptake throughout the region. Sustainable intensification practices are expected to continue to grow in the region thanks to these and other collaborations, along with the advent of technological advancements and increased adoption.
CIMMYT and the Bayer Crop Science team are looking for practical solutions to future challenges in South Asian agriculture. CIMMYT/Deepak
Bayer representatives at the meeting included: Hartmut van Lengerich, head of cereals and fungicides; Juergen Echle, global segment manager of rice herbicides; Christian Zupanc, global segment manager of rice fungicides; Mahesh Girdhar, global crop manager of rice and Rajvir Rathi, vice president of public and government affairs. CIMMYT representatives included: Tek Sapkota, mitigation specialist; Balwinder Singh, crop modeling specialist and Alwin Keil, senior economist.
This story appeared originally on the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative website to mark Earth Day on April 22, 2016. Linda McCandless is associate director for communications, International Programs, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at Cornell University. She also oversees communications for the Delivering Genetic Gain in Wheat project.
SINDHULPALCHOWK, Nepal (BGRI) — Farming the terraced hillsides above the Indrawati River Valley of Nepal, Nabaraj Sapkota and his wife Muthu Dei experience the impacts of climate change on an almost daily basis. Erratic rains make planting difficult. Warm, misty conditions and prolonged winter temperatures increase the incidence of wheat rusts that reduce yield. Unpredictable hailstorms flatten wheat and rice before they can be harvested.
âWhen we need rain, there is no rain. And when we donât need rain, there is plenty of rain,â says Nabaraj. âWe used to only have rain from May through July, now we have rain and mist from November.â
Khim lal Bastola grows wheat, maize and rice in rotation and sustains four generations in his 12-person household near Pokhara. âThe change is obvious: man produces something with his hard labor but strong winds and hailstorms destroy it,â he said.
âThe climate change scenario for Nepal â where temperature are likely to increase and precipitation is likely to be more erratic â will disproportionally affect smallholder farmers,â said Dhruba Thapa, a senior scientist with the Nepal Agricultural Research Council. âFor Nepal, the cost of not adapting to climate change will be high.â
Like many farmers in Nepal, Bastola and the Sapkotas need technical assistance to help them adapt to climate change. They eagerly soak up the education offered by people like Thapa, Sarala Sharma, and Sunita Adhibari, NARC scientists who distribute disease resistant varieties of wheat and help farmers learn to identify diseases.
Scientists and farmers also soak up training from the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI), and specialists like Dave Hodson, a wheat surveillance specialist with CIMMYT, who shows them how to scout for wheat rust and upload data into the global RustTracker monitoring system.
FARMING PERVASIVE BUT DIFFICULT IN NEPAL
Farming in Nepal is hard, backbreaking labor predominantly done by hand in fields rarely more than one-quarter of an acre in size. Men plow the small plots on the terraced hillsides with oxen. Women break up the clods with heavy adzes. Although rarely above subsistence level, small farms are of vital importance in sustaining the multi-generational communities scattered throughout the Himalayas in the high hills to the north, the temperate mid-hills, and the subtropical terai to the south.
The livelihoods of more than 75 percent of the people in Nepal are based on agriculture and forestry, and almost 65 percent of the agriculture is rainfed, Nepal is among the 25 nations in the world with the lowest GDP per person and also ranks among the 25 with the greatest decrease in forested land. Rural populations are heavily clustered in river basins whose annual monsoon-fed flood cycles are likely to be exacerbated by warming. Deforestation adds to the problem, intensifying flooding and contributing to the likelihood of landslides.
HELPING FARMERS ADAPT TO CLIMATE CHANGE
Using disease resistant and improved seeds, and adopting different planting and harvesting calendars helps farmers adapt to climate change.
In Chhampi, north of Kathmandu, Krishna Bahadur Ghimire and the local farmersâ cooperative of which he is president, are now producing improved rice, wheat and maize on 140 ropanis of land. Ghimere supplies beans, rice, eggplant, soybeans, wheat and vegetable seeds to his neighbors. He started farming on one ropani of land (~ 500 sq.m) in 1997 but switched to the seed business when he found himself having to drive two hours to Kathmandu to get the improved varieties he needed.
âOur local varieties were not climate smart. We went to Kathmandu to get improved seeds from the Nepalese Agricultural Research Center because their seeds are more disease resistant, higher yielding, and higher quality,â said Ghimire, who has worked with Thapa for 11 years. Â âNew varieties are less lodging and scattering during storms and high winds than the local ones.â
âFarmers need climate smart crops that have been improved for yield and disease resistance, but they also need seeds adapted for variable weather conditions whether we have drought or excess rainfall,â said Thapa. âNARC screens many lines and then provides seeds of promising lines to farmers for participatory variety selection trials, like with Ghimireâs group.â
Naparaj, the Sindhulpalchowk farmer, initially received 300 grams of seven varieties of improved wheat from Thapa. âI was thinking how I could uplift them (my neighbors),â said Naparaj. âI thought to myself, the lives of these people must be uplifted through improved seeds which would give them good production. We used to get one muri (~3.5 liters or 70 kg) of wheat per one ropani (~ 500 sq.m.). Now we are threshing three or four times more. It is a huge profit.â
Ghimereâs 25-year-old nephew Saroj Kumar Bista, speaks of another problem affecting farmers that requires gender-sensitive initiatves. âMany young men are going to the Middle East to work and not moving into the farming sector,â he said.
Nowhere is this more evident than in Godhavari, where Manju Khavas, Radha Basnet and Janaki Silwalâs sons have gone to the Middle East or Japan to work. Their husbands work off the farm, leaving them in charge. âAt first we were overwhelmed,â said the 52-year-old Khavas. âWe could not find someone to dig the fields. Now it is easier because of the handheld tractor.â
Thapa introduced improved eight or nine varieties of wheat to their community as well as agronomic practices like planting in rows, incorporating manure for fertilizer, and using handheld tractors (similar to heavy duty rototillers).
How does Khavas count improvement? âWhen we were 7 or 8 members in the family, the produce of this land was not enough. Now the produce is enough for 13 to 14 people,â she said. Wheat yields are so improved that she and her friends want a wheat threshing machine so they donât have to thresh the greater quantities by hand.
Although the women said they have yet to âevaluateâ climate change, they noted the âenvironment has been spoilt.â
âDuring the harvesting season of the wheat, we suffer from the fear of rain,â said Khavas. âHailstorms also scare us. The moment the wheat becomes yellow, we begin to feel afraid whether we will be able to harvest it or not. And then when the wheat is harvested amid the fear of rain, in the paddy rice planting time, there is no rain.â
MORE TRAINING FOR CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION
Dave Hodson, a surveillance expert with CIMMYT and the BGRI, travels to countries like Nepal to train scientists on using handheld tablets to scout for disease and input data into global disease tracking and monitoring systems that can help to predict disease outbreaks.
Since 2008, the BGRI has held five 2-week training sessions on the âArt and Science of Rust Pathology and Wheat Breedingâ in Asia for scientists in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), including scientists from Nepal, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Bhutan. The course is slated to be on-line this summer.
Nepalese farmers lack understanding of meteorological data and how to reduce risks in agriculture and farming. Sushila Pyakurel, who works with ICDO Lalitpur, has helped initiate Climate Field Schools in Nepal where farmers learn the effects of climate change, identifying crops most suitable to grow, seed selection, scheduling farm operations/farm management practices, and adaptation strategies/methodologies.
One of the new areas of expansion for the BGRI is the new Delivering Genetic Gain in Wheat project, a $24M effort funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to make wheat for smallholder farmers around the world more heat tolerant and disease resistant in the face of climate change. It builds on the successes of the 2008-2015 Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat project, which initiated and funded the SAARC training courses.
DEDICATION: April 25, 2016: For smallholder farmers in Nepal, the challenges of climate change are disastrous enough. A 7.8 magnitude earthquake devastated Nepal on 25 April 2015, less than one month after the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative team visited. More than 9,000 people died and almost 900,000 homes were destroyed. Some of the hardest hit areas were Sindhulpalchowk and Chhampi. This Earth Day blog is dedicated to the resilient farmers of Nepal. It is the BGRIâs sincerest hope that their families are well on their way to recovery.
Martin Kropff is CIMMYT director general and Juergen Voegele is senior director World Bankâs Agriculture Global Practice.
(Photo: J. Cumes/CIMMYT)
What do a chapati, a matza, or couscous have in common? The answer is wheat, which is a source for one-fifth of the calories and protein consumed globally.
Yet, stable, assured funding for public research for this important food grain remains elusive.
For 45 years, world-class scientists from two research centers of CGIAR â the worldâs only global research system that focuses on the crops of most importance to poor farmers in developing countries â have battled the odds to provide wheat and nourish the worldâs growing population. Their innovations have helped to boost wheat yields, fight debilitating pests and ward off diseases, improving the lives of nearly 80 million poor farmers.
Wheat plays a big role in feeding the human family. Over 1.2 billion resource-poor consumers depend on wheat as a staple food.
Small Investment, big gains: Research for free public goods shows the way
A new report by the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat shows that for an annual investment of roughly $30 million, the benefits gained from wheat research are in the range of $2.2 billion to $3.1 billion each year, from 1994 to 2014. Put another way, for every $1 invested in wheat breeding, $73 to $103 were returned in direct benefits, helping producers and consumers alike. Surely these healthy numbers — which are conservative because they do not include benefits from traits other than yield — would whet the appetite of any hard-nosed economist or bean counter looking for a convincing return on investment.
Science products like improved wheat lines from CIMMYT, the Mexico-based International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, and ICARDA, the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas â both members of CGIAR â are freely available to all and keep the global wheat research enterprise humming. Each year CIMMYT alone distributes half a million packets of corn and wheat seed from its research to 346 partners in public and private breeding programs spread across 79 countries where these crops are mainstays of peopleâs diets.
Today, the rapid spread of wheat varieties adapted to diverse ecologies is one of agricultural scienceâs unsung success stories. Almost half the worldâs wheat land is sown to varieties that come from research by CGIAR scientists and their global network of partners. Even as wheat-free diets are on the rise in industrialized countries â whether due to personal preference, or medical necessity such as celiac disease â it is increasingly clear that wheat will remain an important grain in the diets of millions of people living in emerging economies.
(Photo: P. Lowe/CIMMYT)
Food in a changing climate: The future is here
So what could possibly be wrong with the scenario painted above? After all, CIMMYT has been around for five decades, and public funding has kept the wheels of discovery science turning and delivering improved varieties of the food crops that farmers demand and consumers need.
The big outlier, our known unknown, is climate change. For every one degree Celsius increase in growing season temperatures, wheat production decreases by a whopping 6 percent.
To beat the heat, CIMMYT scientists are working to reshape the wheat plant for temperature extremes and other environmental factors. New goals include dramatically enhancing wheatâs use of sunlight and better understanding the internal signals whereby plants coordinate their activities and responses to dry conditions and high temperatures.
Food demand is projected to rise by 20 percent globally over the next 15 years with the largest increases in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and East Asia where the map of hunger, poverty and malnutrition has an overlay of environmental stress and extreme resource degradation.
Climate change is already playing havoc with the global food system.
In 2009, one-fifth of Mexicoâs corn production was lost due to drought. In 2011, extreme weather events such as cyclones destroyed one-third of Sri Lankaâs rice crop, and badly damaged rice paddies in Madagascar, one of the worldâs poorest countries. Two successive seasons of poor rainfall from El Niño have decimated Africaâs corn harvest and left millions facing hunger this year.
Looking to the future, rising food demand â driven inexorably by population, rapid urbanization and increasing global wealth â shows no sign of abating. To meet food needs by increasing productivity, cereal yields â not wheat alone â would need to increase at 3 percent a year, a number that is 40 percent higher than the 2.1 percent gains achieved from 2000 to 2013. Alas, plant breeders do not have the luxury of complacency. New varieties take more than a decade to develop, test, and deploy through national certification and seed marketing or distribution systems.
CGIAR crop scientists are rushing to meet the challenges. In a taste of the future, a team of topnotch scientists at CGIARâs Lima-based International Potato Center and NASA will test growing potatoes under Martian conditions to demonstrate that hardy spuds can thrive in the harshest environments.
As the worldâs policy makers begin to grapple with the interconnected nature of food, energy, water and peace, every dollar invested in improving global food and nutrition security is an investment in the future of humanity.
To develop crops, livestock, fish and trees that are more productive and resilient and have a lower environmental signature, CGIAR is calling for an increase in its war chest to reach $1.35 billion by 2020. Is anybody listening?
Celebrating “CIMMYT 50” in Harare, Zimbabwe. Photo: Johnson Siamachira/CIMMYT.
HARARE, Zimbabwe (CIMMYT) — Improved maize varieties, crop management practices and sustainable intensification characterize valuable contributions made by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) over the past 50 years, said a Zimbabwe government official at recent anniversary celebrations, calling for renewed investments in agricultural development in the country.
CIMMYT-Southern Africa maize breeder Cosmos Magorokosho, showcasing CIMMYT’s work as part of CIMMYT50 commemorations. Photo: Johnson Siamachira/CIMMYT.
Under the theme ââturning research into impact,ââ the April 11 celebrations at the CIMMYT-Southern Africa Regional Office in Harare were attended by more than 300 people, including members of CIMMYTâs board of trustees, donors, representatives from non-governmental organizations, research institutions, national agricultural research systems from eastern and southern Africa, the diplomatic community, farmer associations and seed companies.
âI’d like to highlight the long-standing partnership between CIMMYT and its African partners and the efforts being made to sustainably increase the productivity of maize-based systems to ensure food and nutritional security, increase household incomes and reduce poverty in sub-Saharan Africa,â said Joseph Made, Zimbabweâs Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development, during a speech.
During the “CIMMYT 50” event, the world’s leading research center on maize and wheat showcased its work by conducting an on-station tour, a field trip to observe crop-livestock integration activities and a visit to the maize lethal necrosis quarantine facility being established in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe’s Minister of Agriculture, Mechanization and Irrigation Development, addresses the CIMMYT50 commemoration in Harare, Zimbabwe. Photo: Johnson Siamachira/CIMMYT.
Made acknowledged that CIMMYTâs research work has resulted in the development of hundreds of improved maize varieties and crop management practices and more recently, sustainable intensification options that are now spreading through the region.
However, Made also emphasized the need for continued investment âin view of the ever-growing population and the adverse effects of climate change and variability.â
âWhat is currently happening is that governments are preoccupied with short-term problems at the expense of long-term problems,â said Martin Kropff, CIMMYT’s director general, citing new challenges, such as climate change, that are shifting or shortening growing seasons, resulting in irregular rainfall and weather patterns.
âSuch challenges can be overcome partly by giving farmers early warning, especially via mobile phone, of the coming seasonâs expected weather, and improved seed to withstand drought, heat, floods and short growing seasons,â Kropff said, adding that 40 percent of CIMMYTâs activities take place in Africa.
CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff celebrating 50 years of CIMMYT at the organizationâs Southern Africa Regional Office. Photo: Johnson Siamachira/CIMMYT.
Extensive research activities take place in Harare, other substations and on-farm trials.
From 2007 to 2014, over 200 unique drought-tolerant and nutrient use-efficient maize varieties were released through more than 100 private sector companies in 14 African countries.
In 2014 alone, CIMMYT supported the production of nearly 52,000 tons of certified drought-tolerant maize seed, enough to plant over 2 million hectares (4.9 million acres) and touch the lives of people in approximately 5.2 million households.
CIMMYT continues to make an impact in Africa by building the capacity of national institutions, enterprises, researchers and farmers, and ensuring that gender and culture are integrated in every intervention.
The main “CIMMYT 50” celebratory commemorative event will be held in Mexico City from September 27 to 29 2016.
Traditional maize storage in Tete province in Mozambique, April 27, 2015. CIMMYT/Tsedeke Abate
NAIROBI, Kenya (CIMMYT) â At least 40 million smallholder farmers throughout sub-Saharan Africa are profiting from more than 200 new drought-tolerant varieties of maize produced as part of the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) Project, according to scientists at the Center for International Maize and Wheat Improvement (CIMMYT).
The project, underway between 2007 and 2015, led to the development of varieties with traits preferred by farmers that have successfully made smallholders in 13 countries more resilient to the erratic effects of climate change on growing conditions.
âSmallholder farmers in this region plant maize varieties that are obsolete and end up getting poor harvests, but that’s changing now thanks to the gallant efforts of the DTMA team that has released and commercialized a large number of modern varieties,â said Tsedeke Abate, the CIMMYT scientist who led the project. âThanks to the new drought-tolerant varieties, many families have managed to overcome harsh growing conditions and boost yields substantially.â
âThe adoption of the improved drought tolerant seed varied from one country to another and each county had unique challenges that made it difficult for some farmers to take up the new varieties. Some farmers were not aware of the availability of the seed in their markets, for some the seed was not available or the price was high,â Abate said. âWe worked with national seed companies in these countries to increase production of certified seed so that many more farmers can buy the seed at an affordable price as well as demonstrating the benefits of the new varieties.â
Anthony Mwega, a farmer and leader in Olkalili village, in Hai district a semi-arid area in northern Tanzania about 600 kilometers (370 miles) from the capital Dar es Salaam, beat the price constraint by mobilizing 66 farmers from his village and neighboring villages Makiwaru and Ngaikati to pool resources and buy 5 metric tons of HB513 â a drought-tolerant and nitrogen-use efficient variety â at a very affordable price from Meru Agro Tours and Consultant Seed Company.
âThe overall purchasing price we bought the seed for was about 50 percent less than the market price because we bought it in bulk,â said Mwega. âI saw how good the maize performed in demonstrations organized by Meru Agro during the 2014 planting season with extremely low rains, and knew this is a variety that my people would definitely benefit from.â
Scientists project that millions more farmers will gain access to and plant the new varieties due to collaborations with more than 100 national seed companies, which continue to make a significant contribution to the improvement of seed systems in Angola, Benin, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
âCollaboration with CIMMYT through the DTMA project has been extremely instrumental in facilitating me to release my own varieties,â said Zubeda Mduruma of Aminata Seed Company in Tanga, Tanzania who has collaborated with CIMMYT both in maize breeding and production work since 1976.
âI was able to get some of the best germplasm, evaluate them through on-farm and on-station trials, and successfully released three of the best drought tolerant varieties in the market, including one quality protein DT variety that is very popular among women because of its nutritional value. With the quality of maize we get from CIMMYT, itâs very possible to release new improved varieties every year with much better yield compared to popular commercial varieties in our shops.â
The story of this success is told through a series of pictures and profiles of DTMA target countries. Each country profile illustrates the context of national maize production and the changes underway thanks to released drought-tolerant varieties.
The DTMA project will continue, first as the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa Seed Scaling (DTMASS) initiative. Under the project, which is funded by USAID, CIMMYT scientists aim to facilitate the production of close to 12,000 metric tons of certified seed for use by about 2.5 million people, in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
In partnership with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture who partnered with CIMMYT in DTMA work, the new Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa project will also carry forward the success and invaluable lessons from DTMA and CIMMYTâs Improved Maize for Africa Soils project, to develop new stress tolerant varieties to help farmers mitigate multiple stresses that occur concurrently in farmersâ fields.
Climate change is likely to have a huge impact on cereal farmers in India. CIMMYT/Emma Quilligan
EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Developing cereal crops that can withstand the effects of climate change will require global, integrated efforts across crops and disciplines, according to a recent research paper published in the journal “Global Food Security.”
The authors of âAn integrated approach to maintaining cereal productivity under climate changeâ argue that cropping systems could become more resilient in the face of climate change through better coordination. Needs include characterizing target agro-ecosystems, Â standardization of experimental protocols, comparative biology across cereals (and possibly other crops)Â and data sharing.
Better integration of research effort across the major cereal crops â including wheat, rice, maize, pearl millet and sorghum â is expected to boost productivity under heat and drought stress, thus helping to increase food security for people in less developed countries, many of which will be severely affected by climate change.
âMost of the big challenges in crop improvement are transnational, therefore a better globally integrated research effort is a triple win scenario,â according to  Matthew Reynolds, head of wheat physiology at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), and lead author of the paper. âItâs more efficient since duplication of effort is reduced, itâs synergistic since we learn simultaneously from multiple crops and environments [or cropping systems], and itâs faster to achieve impacts because outputs are disseminated more broadly.â
The paper itself is the result of a workshop held in New Delhi in November 2013, which was the first of its kind to bring together researchers from leading universities, CGIAR agricultural research centers, national agricultural research systems and the private sector â working across the five crops â to discuss areas of common interest and potential collaboration.
Wheat, rice, maize, pearl millet, and sorghum make up nearly 45 percent of calories consumed per capita worldwide and about 55 percent in least developed countries, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations. Cereal production is under threat from climate change, which subjects crops to heat and drought stress. Diminishing water supplies, increasing populations, urbanization, shifting diets and increasing demand for fodder and fuel is also putting pressure on cereal production. Taking all these factors into account, researchers project that yield growth rates of 1.2 percent to – 1.7 percent will be required to meet global demand and reduce malnutrition.
The authors of the paper, including representatives from the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, identified priority traits for heat and drought tolerance across the cereal crops, and also called for more effective collaborations so that these traits can be modelled, tested at common phenotyping platforms and the resulting data shared with other researchers worldwide as global public goods.
âThis paper has provided a baseline about what needs to be done,â said O.P. Yadav, director of the Central Arid Zone Research Institute at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. âIt has also shown what is achievable, once various institutes decide to work together with a common goal and become collaborative stakeholders in increasing the resilience of diverse cropping systems.â
Severe drought-affected area in Lamego, Mozambique. (Photo: Christian Thierfelder/CIMMYT)
HARARE (CIMMYT) — In southern Africa close to 50 million people are projected to be affected by droughts caused by the current El Niño, a climate phenomenon that develops in the tropical Pacific Ocean causing extreme weather worldwide — this year, one of the strongest on record. Many of those millions are expected to be on the brink of starvation and dependent on emergency food aid and relief.
However, severe droughts are nothing new to the region. Between 1900 and 2013 droughts have killed close to 1 million people in Africa, with economic damages of about $3 billion affecting over 360 million people. Over the past 50 years, 24 droughts have been caused by El Niño events, according to research by Ilyas Masih. If droughts are so recurrent and known to be a major cause of yield variability and food insecurity in southern Africa, why are we still reacting to this as a one-time emergency instead of a calculated threat?
Unpredictable harvests: Above, yield variability in the worldâs top 5 maize producing countries (left) vs. southern Africa (right) Source: FAOSTAT, 2015
Over the past 50 years, donors have focused on the âpoorest of the poorâ in agriculture â areas where farming is difficult due to low and erratic rainfalls, poor sandy soils and high risk of crop failure. Investments were made in these areas to change farmersâ livelihoods â and yet the numbers of food insecure people are the same or rising in many southern African countries. Once drought hits, most farmers are left with no crops and are forced to sell their available livestock. Due to many farmers flooding the market with poor meat at once, prices for both livestock and meat hit rock bottom. Only when the situation becomes unbearable does the development community act, calling for emergency aid, which kicks in with a stuttering start. Abject poverty and food aid dependency is the inevitable consequence.
A farmer in Zimbabwe explains his challenges with drought and low soil fertility. CIMMYT/Michael Listman
Short-term relief can help millions of farmer families in this current crisis, and emergency solutions will likely be necessary this year. However, emergency relief is not the solution to saving lives and money in a world where extreme weather events are only going to become more frequent.
Proactive, strategic and sustainable response strategies are needed to increase farming system resilience and reduce dependency on food aid during extreme weather events like El Niño. This starts with improving the capacity of local, regional and national governments to make fully informed decisions on how to prepare for these events. Interventions must reach beyond poor performing areas, but also support higher productivity areas and emerging commercial farmers, who have greater potential to produce enough grain on a national scale to support areas hardest hit by droughts and dry-spells.
Groundnuts in rotation with maize under conservation agriculture can provide food and nutrition despite climate variability in Malawi. CIMMYT/Christian Thierfelder
They need to be scaled out to increase resilience to climate variability. This strategy of improved foresight and targeting coupled with adoption of climate-smart agriculture and improved outscaling can lead to increased resilience of smallholder farming systems in southern Africa, reducing year-to-year variability and the need for emergency response.
Learn more about the impacts of El Niño and building resilience in the priority briefing âCombating drought in southern Africa: from relief to resilienceâ here, and view the special report from FEWS Net illustrating the extent and severity of the 2015-16 drought in southern Africa. Â
Conservation agriculture (field at right) protects wheat from damage due to water stagnation experienced in a conventional field, visible in the blackening of the wheat (left field). CIMMYT/Tek Sapkota
Julianna White is program manager for low emissions agriculture at the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security. Tek Sapkota is a scientist with the International Maize and Wheat Improvment Center and lead author of the study. Any opinions expressed are their own.
Research shows conservation agriculture increases the income of farmers, moderates canopy temperatures, improves irrigation productivity and reduces greenhouse gas emissions in cereal systems in the Indo-Gangetic plains.
In an August 2015 article in the Journal of Integrative Agriculture, researchers report that a comprehensive literature review and evidence collected from on-farm trials showed that conservation agriculture – defined as minimal soil disturbance and permanent soil cover combined with appropriate rotations – improved farmersâ income, helped crops sustain or adapt to heat and water stresses, and reduced agricultureâs contribution to greenhouse gas emissions in cereal systems in South Asia.
Farmer Ram Shubagh Chaudhary in his wheat fields, in the village of Pokhar Binda, Maharajganj district, Uttar Pradesh, India. He alternates wheat and rice, and has achieved a bumper wheat crop by retaining crop residues and employing zero tillage. CIMMYT/Petr Kosina
Farmers reap economic benefits
Conservation agriculture recommends minimal soil disturbance, most commonly tillage. Farmers who practiced zero tillage saved 23 percent in production costs by avoiding preparatory tillage and reducing the number of times fields were irrigated, while reaping the same or slightly higher yields.
Minimizing heat stress
High temperatures during the maturity stage cause wheat to decrease grain size, lowering overall yields, a phenomenon known as âterminal heat effect.â Farmers who practice conservation agriculture avoid this heat stress because residues left on the surface of the field conserve soil moisture, enhancing transpiration and creating a cooling effect â thus avoiding reduced yields caused by terminal heat effect.
Efficient use of water resources
Researchers found multiple examples that the zero tillage component of conservation agriculture led to significant water savings in both rice and wheat systems. Water savings accrued across systems. In rice-wheat systems, retention of wheat residues reduces water use in rice, and retention of rice residues causes reduced water use in wheat. Non-requirement of preparatory tillage advances the planting times thereby increasing rainwater-use efficiency and utilizing residual moisture from the previous crop.
Decrease in greenhouse gas emissions
Minimizing soil disturbance allows for soil carbon to accumulate, causing a net soil carbon gain. Although scientists are still debating the extent of soil carbon sequestered through conservation agriculture, indirect emissions reductions are numerous: less power and fuel consumption due to decreased tillage in conservation agriculture, decreased labor from machines and humans, and slower depreciation of equipment.
Business-as-usual production practices such as conventional tillage and farmersâ nutrient and irrigation management systems are greenhouse gas-intensive, while zero tillage reduces energy consumption in land preparation and crop establishment and efficient use of water resources reduces energy needs from pumping. Leaving residues in the field increases soil health and fertility, thereby reducing the need for chemical fertilizers.
Researchers found that, on average, farmers could save 36 liters of diesel per hectare, equivalent to a reduction in 93 kg CO2 emission per hectare per year by practicing zero tillage for land preparation and crop establishment in the rice-wheat system typical on the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Given that 13.5 million hectares are under rice-wheat system cultivation in the region, this represents a reduction of 12.6 megatons of CO2 equivalent.
New technologies increase uptake of conservation agriculture
Despite excellent productivity, economic gains and environmental benefits, adoption of conservation agriculture in South Asia is still relatively slow, most likely due to various technological and socio-economic factors. It takes years and ample evidence for farmers to change the entrenched habit of tillage with planting. And it is a process.
For example, some farmers have adopted zero-tillage in wheat production, primarily to facilitate early planting, lower production costs and increase yields (and therefore profitabilitiy). However, these same farmers still prefer to practice tillage and puddling (wet-tillage) in their rice crops for weed control and reduction in percolation loss of water/nutrient. Also, farmers tend to burn crop residues to facilitate planting with the zero-tillage drill. To realize the full potential of conservation agriculture, all crops in rotation have to be brought under zero tillage, and crop residues will have to be used as soil surface mulch.
Due to the recent development of the âTurbo Happy Seeder,â which can drill seed and fertilizer directly through loose and anchored crop residues, farmers are gradually moving towards zero tillage across the agriculture system.
Farmers who practice conservation agriculture also must adjust their nutrient management systems in order to maximize crop productivity decrease costs. Conventional fertilizer recommendations have been calibrated based on tillage-based systems are thus not necessarily appropriate for conservation agriculture systems, including nutrient stewardship (applying the right source of fertilizer at the right time in right place using right method).
Crop residue management is essential for continuous coil cover, an important component of conservation agriculture, but farmers are faced with competing uses of crop residue as livestock feed, fuel, mulch and compost. Local adaptive research is needed to address strategic residue and nutrient management, weed control and scale-appropriate machinery development.
Such a paradigm shift in crop management requires a mindset transition among farmers and other value chain actors, including researchers, extension agents, market players and other institutions. Though it is recognized that transition takes time, recent progress and development in weed control and nutrient management systems signal that practice of conservation agriculture is growing across the region, including among different socio-economic groups and farm typologies.
CCAFS and CIMMYT continue research and implementation of low emissions agriculture across the globe. See also the regional focus on conservation and climate-smart agriculture in South Asia.
EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) â Scientists battling to increase wheat production by more than 60 percent over the next 35 years to meet projected demand are optimistic that they have begun to unravel the genetic mysteries that will lead to a more productive plant.
A recent study conducted at 26 international sites with a new generation of improved wheat breeding lines crossed and selected for superior physiological traits, resulted in yields that were on average 10 percent higher than other wheat varieties.
In the study, scientists identified many useful traits in the wheat plant suited to heat and drought adaptation, including: cooler canopy temperature indicating the ability of the plant to access subsoil water under drought and root proliferation under hot irrigated conditions.
They also discovered the plants have the ability to store sugars in the stem when conditions are good and the capacity to remobilize them to the grain when needed for seed filling if conditions do not permit enough photosynthesis. Leaf wax also plays a role by reflecting excess radiation and reducing evaporation from the leaf surface, lowering the risk of photo-inhibition and dehydration.
Additionally, scientists discovered that total aboveground biomass, a trait, which indicates overall plant fitness and with the right crossing strategy can be converted to produce higher grain yield.
âWhat we have revealed is a proof of concept â namely that designing crosses on the basis of wheatâs physiology results in a range of novel genotypes with significant improvements in yield and adaptation,â said Matthew Reynolds, a distinguished scientist and wheat physiologist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).
âWe have a long road ahead, but we hope eventually this work will lead to the discovery of the best combinations of genes suited to specific heat and drought profiles.â
HEAT STRESS
Climate change poses considerable risks to food security and political stability. Wheat is a vital food staple providing 20 percent of the calories and protein consumed by people worldwide.
Projections indicate that it is very likely that rainfall will be more unpredictable and that heat waves will occur more often and last longer throughout the 21st century, according to a report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Mean surface temperatures could potentially rise by between 2 to 5 degrees Celsius or more, the report said.
A recent comprehensive modeling exercise, which incorporated data from international heat stress trials led by CIMMYTâs wheat physiology team in the 1990s, shows that for each degree increase in average temperature, there is a 6 percent reduction in wheat yield, so an increase of 5 degrees would lead to a 30 percent reduction or more.
âA 30 percent yield reduction would be very harmful to food security because we know that wheat production must increase by 60 percent just to keep up with population projections,â Reynolds said. âCombined with predicted climate risks, the challenge increases â if this happens, weâll need to double the yield capacity of our current varieties.â
While demand for wheat is projected to increase at a rate of 1.7 percent a year until 2015, global productivity increases at only 1.1 percent. Conventional breeding approaches achieve less than 1 percent per year, a yield barrier that scientists aim to break.
âIf the relative rate of improvement in yields continues at its current pace, there will be a large gap between the amount of available wheat and the amount we need to feed the global population,â Reynolds said.
Under IWYP and HeDWIC scientists will be redesigning the wheat plant for adaptive traits relating to temperature extremes, photoperiod, soil depth, and other environmental factors. Other goals will include attempting to drastically increase radiation-use efficiency, and to understand how plants use signaling to coordinate their activities and respond to environmental fluxes.
Such crops as rice and triticale can be used as potential models for wheat redesign. Rice is similar to wheat in terms of its basic metabolism, but tolerates much higher temperatures, Reynolds said. Triticale could also be used as a model, since it almost never lodges â or falls over â and its spikes have a very high grain number, he added.
Scientists also aim to increase their understanding of the role of roots and their potential to boost yield and ability to adapt to stress.
Because roots are hidden and messy to work with their physiology has been largely ignored in comparison to the parts of the plant above ground, but new technologies are helping to overcome these disadvantages, Reynolds said.
Such challenges are now more feasible to tackle due to a new generation of genomics tools and other biotechnologies which become more powerful each year.
âThe revolution in phenomics â work that the Wheat Physiology Group helped pioneer â especially remote sensing for temperature and spectral indices, which indicate specific physiological properties of the plant-, means that we can now evaluate a much larger numbers of lines than in the past,â Reynolds said.
âWeâve already screened 70,000 accessions from the World Wheat Collection in the CIMMYT Genebank, and have identified a veritable powerhouse of novel material to support this work related to breeding and gene discovery for decades to come. So although the challenge is enormous, we remain optimistic.â
Young lady carrying home flour from millers, Salina, Malawi. Photo: Tsedeke Abate/ CIMMYT
The Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) Project has contributed towards improving seed system in sub-Saharan Africa for almost nine years (2007â2015), through 233 varieties released including about 200 distinct drought-tolerant (DT) maize hybrids and open-pollinated varieties (OPV) developed to help farmers cope with drought constraint in maize farming.
The main purpose of DTMA was to increase the food and income security of smallholder farmers through the development and dissemination of drought tolerant, well-adapted DT hybrids and OPV maize varieties. The project was jointly implemented among the National Agricultural Research systems by CIMMYT (eastern and southern Africa) and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in West Africa and concluded at the end of December 2015.
Since its inception, the project has supported production of nearly 54,000 tons of certified DT maize seed benefiting an estimated 5.4 million households â or 43 million people â across the DTMA countries (Angola, Benin, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe).
The new DT maize varieties are adapted to the various agro-ecologies in each of the target countries. Most of them have been commercialized or are in the process of being commercialized. These varieties produce the same or better yields as the currently available commercial varieties. All of them are resistant to major diseases. In addition, several of them are tolerant to the parasitic weed Striga hermonthica and nitrogen-use efficient.
Africaâs food security is on a positive trajectory, and DTMA is contributing to this progress. The strong partnership developed with over 90 small – and – medium seed companies currently stocking DT varieties will facilitate continued production and supply of certified DT seed to reach many more smallholders in Africa.
New hybrid helps farmers beat drought in Tanzania. With seed of a maize hybrid developed by the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project and marketed by the company Meru Agro Tours and Consultant Limited, Valeria Pantaleo, a 47-year-old farmer and mother of four from Olkalili village, northern Tanzania, harvested enough grain from a 0.5-hectare plot in 2015 to feed her family and, with the surplus, to purchase an ox calf for plowing, despite the very poor rains that season. âI got so much harvest and yet I planted this seed very late and with no fertilizer,â said Pantaleo, who was happy and surprised. âI finally managed to buy a calf to replace my two oxen that died at the beginning of the year due to a strange disease.â In 2015 Meru Agro sold 427 tons of seed of the hybrid, HB513, known locally as ângamia,â Kiswahili for âcamel,â in recognition of its resilience under dry conditions. The company plans to put more than 1,000 tons of seed on the market in 2016. Photo: Brenda Wawa/CIMMYT
This story is one of a series of features written during CIMMYTâs 50th anniversary year to highlight significant advancements in maize and wheat research between 1966 and 2016.
EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) — In the early 1990s, before climate change caught popular attention, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) provided funding for an international team of scientists in Mexico to find a better way to breed resilient maize for farmers in drought-prone tropical areas.
Fast forward several decades and that scientific concept is now reality. By early 2016 more than 2 million farmers were acquiring and growing drought-tolerant varieties from that early research in 13 countries of sub-Saharan Africa, a region where maize, the number-one food crop, frequently fails under erratic rainfall and lethal droughts.
Survival of the fittest
The core methodology, developed at CIMMYT, was to genetically select maize lines that survive and yield grain under controlled drought or low soil nitrogen on experimental plots. This imparts tolerance in maize to both dry conditions during flowering and grain-filling, when the plant is particularly sensitive to stress, and to the nitrogen-depleted soils typical of small-scale farms in the tropics.
Maize plants are designed with male flowers, called tassels, at the top, and female flowers, known as silks, which emerge later from young ears and catch pollen. Research in the 1970s had shown that, under drought, maize plants whose silks appear soonest after tassels also produce more grain, according to Greg Edmeades, a retired maize physiologist who led development of CIMMYTâs drought breeding system in the 1980s-90s.
âWe used that trait, known as anthesis-silking interval, as a key yardstick to select maize lines and populations that did well under drought,â he explained, citing important contributions from his post-doctoral fellows Marianne BĂ€nziger, Jorge Bolaños, Scott Chapman, Anne Elings, Renee Lafitte, and Stephen Mugo. âWe discovered that earlier silking meant plants were sending more carbohydrates to the ear.â
Ground-truthing the science
In their studies, Edmeades and his team subjected many thousands of maize lines to stress testing on desert and mid-altitude fields in Mexico, dosing out water drop by drop. Reported in a series of journal papers and at two international conferences on maize stress breeding, their results outlined a new approach to create climate-resilient maize.
âThe idea was to replicate the two most common and challenging nemeses of resource-poor farming systems, drought and low nitrogen stress, in a controlled way on breeding stations, and to use this to select tolerant varieties,â said BĂ€nziger, now Deputy Director General for Research and Partnerships at CIMMYT. âAfter eight cycles of selection for reduced anthesis-silking interval under controlled drought stress, Gregâs model maize population gave 30 percent more grain than conventional varieties, in moderate-to-severe drought conditions.â
But could the approach be implemented in developing country breeding programs, where researchers typically tested and showcased high-yielding, optimally-watered maize?
Capitalizing on several yearsâ experience in Edmeadesâ team, in 1996 BĂ€nziger aimed to find out, moving to CIMMYTâs office in Zimbabwe and beginning work with breeders in the region to develop Africa-adapted, stress tolerant maize.
âAfrican farmers grow maize by choice,â she explained. âIf you give them access to varieties that better withstand their harsh conditions and reduce their risk, they may invest in inputs like fertilizer or diversify crop production, improving their incomes and food security.â
The efforts started by BĂ€nziger and several other CIMMYT scientists in sub-Saharan Africa involved large, long-running projects in the regionâs major maize-growing areas, with co-leadership of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), extensive and generous donor support, and the critical participation of regional associations, national research programs, private seed companies, and non-governmental organizations. Partners also pioneered innovative ways for farmers to take part in testing and selecting varieties and worked to foster high-quality, competitive seed markets.
The most recent initiative, Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA), has been responsible for the development and release of more than 200 drought tolerant varieties. A new phase aims by 2019 to attain an annual production of as much as 68,000 tons of certified seed of resilient maize, for use by approximately 5.8 million households and benefitting more than 30 million people in the region.Â
Maize stress breeding goes global
Selecting for tolerance under controlled moisture stress has proven so successful that it is now a standard component of maize breeding programmes in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, according to Edmeades.
âThe long pursuit of drought tolerance in maize shows how successful research-for-development demands doggedness and enduring donor support,â said Edmeades, who credits former CIMMYT scientists P.R. Goldsworthy, Ken Fischer, and Elmer Johnson with laying the groundwork for his studies. âAnd, as can be seen, many donors and partners have helped greatly to amplify the impact of UNDPâs initial investment.â
Over the years, generous funding for this work has also been provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany (GTZ); the Howard G. Buffett Foundation; the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD); the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA); the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC); the UK Department for International Development (DFID); and the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
This short history of drought tolerance breeding for tropical maize was developed in collaboration with UNDP, as part of CIMMYT and UNDPâs 50th anniversary celebrations, which coincide in 2016. To read the version published by UNDP, click here.
Grandmother harvests drought-tolerant maize in Lobu village, Koromo, Hawassa Zuria district, Ethiopia. (Photo: P. Lowe/CIMMYT)
EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – El Niño drought-related stress is triggering hunger and food insecurity that will endanger food security for 40 million people in southern Africa, according to the World Food Programme. While not as tangible as humanitarian aid, long-term scientific research is key to addressing the major drought threatening parts of Central America, Africa and Asia. Government fiscal tightening makes it hard to defend investments in research against projects where the results may be immediate and obvious â but long-term investment equals long-term impact.
Ethiopia is experiencing the worst drought in decades, with more people requiring food assistance in 2016 than at any point since 2005, according to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network. In the central and eastern part of the countries crop production is down by 25 to 70% after the lowest rains in more than 50 years.
The El Niño related drought is not limited to Africa. India is set to harvest its smallest wheat crop in six years, with production down by five percent, following two successive poor monsoon seasons. But the biggest concern is that the region could experience major drought episodes like the Horn of Africa drought 1981- 1984 and the South Africa drought 1992, causing massive social disruption and human suffering.
Drought tolerant crops are an insurance against hunger and crop failure.
Given the severity of drought, scientific researchers are faced with the challenge to devise seed and farming practices that offer farmers greater resilience under this stress. Ongoing work to develop drought tolerant varieties has proved successful but needs renewed support and expansion.
Various maize landraces and wild relatives of wheat have withstood harsh conditions for thousands of years. Exploiting the drought-tolerances they possess and involving the use of molecular markers to better understand the genetic basis of drought tolerance has helped breeders select for better drought tolerance. This is not a quick fix. It can cost up to $600,000 and take seven years to produce a single maize hybrid. Hybrids tend to be more drought tolerant because they are more robust, implying deeper roots that allows the plant to capture more water.
Crop conditions at a glance as of January 28. (Source: Geoglam Global Agricultural Monitoring)
CIMMYT is working with national partners in Ethiopia to rapidly get drought tolerant maize and wheat seed to farmers as part of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded Emergency Seed Response in Ethiopia project. The USAID and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funded Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa project has brought 184 distinct varieties to farmers, mostly hybrids that yield on average 49% more grain than open-pollinated varieties, and yield higher than or equal to currently available varieties on the market.
A single seed can make the difference between hunger and prosperity, but seed alone is not enough. Imagine a Ferrari that is designed to travel at high speed on a freshly paved highway, driving along a dirt road. It will either break down or drive badly. The same thing happens with seed that is planted without smart farming practices designed to increase efficiency. There are many factors that need to be considered, including: right planting date, water conserving tillage methods, and fertilizer. If you can establish the plant well, it is more likely to perform well when drought stress really hits.
Plant a seed today
Massive investments are required today in order for farmers to benefit from effective technologies in the future given that benefits from agricultural research tend to come to fruition after a considerable time lag. Today, parts of Central America, Africa and Asia desperately need food assistance â but the need for investment in agricultural research for development will only intensify as more countries face drought and other climate-related stress. As the proverb asks: “When is the best time to plant a tree?” Twenty years ago. “The second-best time?” Today.
M.L. Jat shows resilient cropping system options for eastern Indo-Gangetic plains at BISA farm
CIMMYT Senior Scientist M.L. Jat has received Indiaâs National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) fellowship in Natural Resource Management for his âoutstanding contributions in developing and scalingâ conservation agriculture-based management technologies for predominant cereal-based cropping systems in South Asia.
Research such as M.L.âs is more important every day, as we learn to do more with less on a planet with finite resources and changing climate. Sustainable innovation, including climate-smart agriculture, is a major theme at the ongoing COP21 climate talks where global leaders are gathered to decide the future of our planet. M.L. tells us below how CA can play a part in climate change mitigation and adaptation, and the future of CA in South Asia.
What are the major threats global climate change poses to South Asian agriculture?
South Asia is one of the most vulnerable regions in the world to climate change. With a growing population of 1.6 billion people, the region hosts 40% of the worldâs poor and malnourished on just 2.4% of the worldâs land. Agriculture makes up over half of the regionâs livelihoods, so warmer winters and extreme, erratic weather events such as droughts and floods have an even greater impact. Higher global temperatures will continue to add extreme pressure to finite land and other natural resources, threatening food security and livelihoods of smallholder farmers and the urban poor.
How does CA mitigate and help farmers adapt to climate change?
In South Asia, climate change is likely to reduce agricultural production 10â50% by 2050 and beyond, so adaptation measures are needed now. Climate change has complex and local impacts, requiring scalable solutions to likewise be locally-adapted.
Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices such as CA not only minimize production costs and inputs, but also help farmers adapt to extreme weather events, reduce temporal variability in productivity, and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, according to numerous data on CA management practices throughout the region.
What future developments are needed to help South Asian farmers adapt to climate change?
Targeting and access to CA sustainable intensification technologies, knowledge, and training – such as precision water and nutrient management or mechanized CA solutions specific to a farmerâs unique landscape – will be critical to cope with emerging risks of climate variability. Participatory and community-based approaches will be critical for scaled impact as well. For example, the climate smart village concept allows rural youth and women to be empowered not only by becoming CA practitioners but also by serving as knowledge providers to the local community, making them important actors in generating employment and scaling CA and other climate-smart practices.
Where do you see your research heading in the next 10-15 years?
Now that there are clear benefits of CA and CSA across a diversity of farms at a regional level, as well as increased awareness by stakeholders of potential challenges of resource degradation and food security in the face of climate change, scaling up CA and CSA interventions will be a priority. For example, the Government of Haryana in India has already initiated a program to introduce CSA in 500 climate smart villages. Thanks to this initiative, CA and CSA will benefit 10 million farms across the region in the next 10-15 years.
Climate-Smart Villages
Climate-Smart Villages are a community-based approach to adaptation and mitigation of climate change for villages in high-risk areas, which will likely suffer most from a changing climate. The project began in 2011 with 15 climate-smart villages in West Africa, East Africa and South Asia, and is expanding to Latin America and Southeast Asia. CIMMYT is leading the CCAFS-CSV project in South Asia.
Maize is a stable crop that requires less water, has lower input costs and earns farmers greater profit thanks to its growing demand as food and feed for livestock. Tribal farmers in Odisha are increasing maize yields with the use of new technologies and improved agronomic practices. Photo: Ashwamegh Banerjee/CIMMYT
Badbil is a remote and deeply impoverished tribal village in the plateau region of Mayurbhanj in the east Indian state of Odisha. The village is home to 200 families belonging to four indigenous tribes who have traditionally grown a local rice called Sathia.
Due to regularly occurring droughts and declining rainfall, families have started giving up rice cultivation. The rice cropâs high demand for water has resulted in about a 40% decline in total rice production in Indiaâs eastern states during severe droughts, with an estimated loss of US$ 800 million. As a result, Mayurbhanjâs plateau area is now considered unsuitable for growing rice and remains fallow for most of the year.
âFarmers also face the problem of nutrient-depleted lateritic and acidic soils, which are dominant in these areas and commonly dismissed as degraded and unproductive by the local population,â said R.K. Malik, CIMMYT Senior Agronomist.
