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Theme: Climate adaptation and mitigation

Climate change threatens to reduce global crop production, and poor people in tropical environments will be hit the hardest. More than 90% of CIMMYT’s 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.

Tanzanian seed company holds field days to popularize drought tolerant maize varieties

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Farmers gather during a field day hosted by a seed company in Tanzania.
Farmers gather during a field day hosted by a seed company in Tanzania.

Yield is one of the key things farmers consider when deciding what seed to buy. Farmers in Arusha, Tanzania shared this fact during a field day held by Suba Agro Trading & Engineering Company. The seed company held two field days in June in Arusha and Moshi to give farmers the chance to examine new drought tolerant maize hybrids, TZH536 and TZH538, in the field.

Farmers often get information on what variety to plant based on what they observe doing well in fields in their locale, the advice they receive from other farmers, and the information they receive from the agrovets they buy seed from. About 30 farmers drawn from the Arusha, Kilimanjaro and Moshi districts attended the Moshi field day, as well as local agricultural extension workers and civic leaders from the area. The meeting was held just in front of the field by the roadside, so as the discussions were going on, farmers were able to see the maize being referred to. The maize was labeled and Suba Agro field staff also cut some plants and exposed the cobs for the farmers to see their yield potential.

In Arusha, the field day was held on a Saturday which was market day. Many people popped in to learn about the new maize varieties before returning to the market to buy or sell wares. “Comparing what I see on this [demonstration] field with what is on the neighboring plot, I can see it is drought tolerant,” said Mariamu Hemedi, a local farmer. “We can see that it has not been watered—there is no tap or well here but the maize has thrived. Now we want to know how it is when it is shelled,” Hemedi added. As participants walked through the field examining the cobs, Sarah Muya, an administrator and assistant to the managing director at Suba Agro encouraged them to taste the grains from the green cobs. “It has a good taste,” she said while offering a cob to taste.

Farmers identified the double cobbing in TZH538 as a key feature they liked because it demonstrated they would get higher yields. “When farmers get good yields, it contributes to development as the extra money gained from selling surplus grain contributes to other development initiatives,” said Eliahidi Mvambi, another farmer. W. S. Chonya, the company’s product development manager, told farmers to buy seed early to be prepared for the rain. Muya advised farmers to ensure they buy certified seed and keep receipts of all their seed purchases to enable them trace the source of ‘bad’ seed. “Take up farming as a business,” Muya said, advising farmers to invest in inputs such as improved seed and fertilizer.

Rose E. Moshi, the ward agricultural extension officer, spoke at the event and urged the seed company to ensure the new seed varieties were distributed in the area before the start of the planting season. “Sometimes farmers identify good seed but when they go to the shops, it is unavailable,” Moshi said. She also spoke on the importance of seed purity, citing it as one of the key challenges farmers face. Chonya then explained the features on Suba Agro seed packets to the farmers, highlighting the quality of the paper and the Tanzanian flag at the top of the pack to help farmers identify and avoid counterfeit seed. “Now that you have seen how this seed performs in a farmer’s field, we request you to be our ambassadors in your villages,” Chonya said. The company is in the process of multiplying the seed for these varieties in preparation for the next planting season. The company also participated in agricultural shows in August in Arusha, Mbeya and Morogoro to give more farmers information about its products.

NSIMA: Seeding hope for smallholder farmers through partnerships

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DSC_6274_loading-maize-seed-for-transportationTo achieve food security, smallholder farmers in Southern Africa require access to improved seed and inputs for higher yields. “Seed is one of the key movers in agricultural development,” says John MacRobert, New Seed Initiative for Maize in Southern Africa (NSIMA) leader, indicating the importance of going beyond developing improved seed varieties to encompass their dissemination, promotion, and adoption in developing strategies around seed development. These issues, together with NSIMA’s to date progress (the project is in its third phase) and strategies for the next phase, were discussed at a meeting in Lusaka, Zambia, during 7-9 August 2013. About 50 participants from institutions collaborating on the project led by CIMMYT and funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) were present; among them were representatives from national agricultural research institutes, seed companies, and institutions of higher learning from Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

“Some of the challenges of the maize crop can be addressed by research,” said Moses Mwale, Zambia Agricultural Research Institute (ZARI) director, during the opening ceremony. “The rest can be addressed by other players in the maize sector,” he added, emphasizing the importance of collaboration within the maize seed value chain. Challenges such as variable distribution of rainfall, low soil fertility, and heat and drought stress can be addressed by improved varieties from CIMMYT-led projects including the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) and Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS). Other climate-change related issues in small-scale farming could be confronted via conservation agriculture. For example, cover crops and crop residue left on the soil help to retain moisture and thus mitigate the impact of droughts.

DSC_6239_Seed-Cos-Edgar-Rupende-addressing-participantsBut do smallholder farmers have access to the new seeds, technologies, and information? The answer is often no. “Integrating stress tolerant maize and legumes, such as pigeon peas, beans, and cowpeas, leads to sustainable production systems. We need effective seed road maps to enhance access and availability of improved maize and legume seeds,” CIMMYT regional director for Southern Africa Mulugetta Mekuria said, giving an example of one such gap in the system.

Seed companies and community-based organizations producing seed play a very significant role in fixing these issues. Nelson Munyaka from the SDC Seeds and Markets Project spoke of the success of Zaka Superseeds, a nascent seed company that transformed from a community seed enterprise. MacRobert agreed: “In Benin and Congo, where we do not have seed companies, the community seed producers could learn from Zaka’s experience and grow into full-fledged seed businesses with the proper structures.” DTMA project leader Tsedeke Abate added that mainstreaming drought tolerant maize varieties in the product portfolio of seed enterprises could have a significant impact.

Policy makers in the seed value chain must be engaged as well. “Many projects do not seem to believe in smallholder ability,” said consultant Michael Jenrich. The policies that govern the seed trade tend to vary among the Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries. An SDC-funded initiative to implement harmonized seed laws in all SADC countries to facilitate easier intra-regional seed movement is currently under way. “So far, 10 countries have signed the memorandum of understanding,” said K C Kawonga, SADC Seed Centre interim coordinator. Such laws would enhance seed trade and contribute to food security by ensuring farmers’ access to improved seed, especially during times of disaster.

DSC_6338_plaque-for-Malawi“Private sector players steer away from smallholders viewing them as high risk because of their poor infrastructure, lack of credit, and land tenure, while governments may not view them as a viable investment,” Jenrich summarized the lack of interest in smallholders’ problems. Zaka Superseeds proves them wrong; cooperating with smallholders can, in fact, be beneficial for seed companies, as they can work more closely with the community consuming their seed. Zaka, for example, is removing a product from its selection after consultations with the community during which they found out the discussed maize variety has a long maturity period and is thus undesirable.

The meeting ended on a high note with the announcement of the 2012 DTMA Breeding and Dissemination Awards winners. Malawi won first prize for both categories; the breeding award runners-up were Zambia and Zimbabwe, and Zimbabwe also took second position in drought tolerant technologies dissemination.

The struggle of maize against climate change in Zimbabwe

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usar-esta-foto-Foto-2“Maize production is likely to suffer the most due to climate change compared to other crops in Southern Africa,” said CIMMYT physiologist Jill Cairns, who presented on CIMMYT work under the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) at the FAO Agriculture Coordination & Information Forum in Harare, Zimbabwe, on 25 July 2013. During her presentation on future climate scenarios in Zimbabwe, Cairns focused on adaptation strategies to climate change, temperature and rainfall projections for 2050, and climate change implications for maize production.

CIMMYT’s ongoing research in Zimbabwe shows an increase in extreme temperature events and the intensity of droughts, which are conditions likely to reduce harvests and affect the suitability of current crops. Discussing the key adaptation strategies for Zimbabwe, including improved varieties, redefined agro-ecological zones, new policies, and better management, Cairns stressed that the initial climate change projections are not downscaled enough to make decisions at the country level. This is important as agricultural responses to climate change cannot be determined and priorities for adaptation strategies cannot be set without the ability to accurately predict future climate scenarios.

The major climate-related threats to maize in Zimbabwe right now are low rainfall and drought stress under high temperatures. “CIMMYT research in Southern Africa has shown that maize production linearly decreases with every accumulated degree above 30 degrees,” said Cairns. “While the amount of rainfall during the maize growing season in the drought-prone areas may increase slightly, it is unlikely to translate into higher yields as evapotranspiration will increase under higher temperatures.”

The challenges are not easy to tackle, but there are opportunities to offset losses. To mitigate the effect of increased temperature, maize lines with tolerance to combined drought and heat stress need to be developed. Such lines have been already identified and can be used to adapt maize production to climate change in Southern Africa.

The presentation, prepared by Cairns with significant input from CIMMYT specialist in geographic information systems, Kai Sonder, was well received by the FAO representatives.

Focus on heat stress resilient maize for Asia

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HTMA-meetingScientists from the Heat Stress Tolerant Maize for Asia (HTMA) project and representatives from collaborating public and private sector institutions from the region, Purdue University, and CIMMYT gathered together during 30-31 July 2013 in Kathmandu, Nepal, for the 1st HTMA Annual Progress Review and Planning Meeting. The meeting was jointly organized by the National Maize Research Program (NMRP) and CIMMYT to discuss progress to-date and future HTMA work plans. HTMA, supported by USAID under the Feed the Future initiative, is a public-private alliance targeting resource-poor people in South Asia who rely on growing maize for subsistence or income in rainfed conditions and whose welfare is directly dependent on maize yields and negatively affected by crop failures.

K.B. Koirala, National Maize Coordinator for Nepal, welcomed all participants and highlighted the importance of the public-private alliance through HTMA, especially for addressing such complex issues as developing and distributing heat stress resilient maize. CIMMYT Global Maize Program director B.M. Prasanna reiterated the need for and importance of maize breeding for heat-stress resilience in his opening remarks, while USAID’s Larry Beach stressed the project’s significance in addressing the emerging effects of climate change.

The first day was devoted to an annual progress review, which was initiated by senior maize physiologist and CIMMYT and HTMA project leader P.H. Zaidi, who presented updates on the project execution and status of progress during the project’s first year. The following session, chaired by Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) executive director D.B. Gurung, covered membrane lipid profiling in relation to heat stress; identifying quantitative trait loci (QTL) for heat-stress tolerance and component traits by joint linkage analysis; association mapping for heat tolerance; latest marker statistics on genotyping-by-sequencing; genomic selection for heat stress tolerance; and development of target populations for rapid-cycle genomic selection. The afternoon session was chaired by Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) chairman Iftikhar Ahmad and focused on phenotyping for heat-stress tolerance; crop modeling and the IMPACT model component; a road map for development and distribution of heat resilient maize; seed distribution systems; and seed companies’ perspectives on target markets.

During day two, participants discussed and developed a workplan and activities for the second year of the project for each collaborating institution. This was followed by a special session on “Exploring linkages & synergy among USAID-funded projects in South Asia.” Representatives from various ongoing projects in the region, including the Hill Maize Research Project (HMRP), Cereal System Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), and HTMA, as well as NARC and the Nepalese Ministry of Agriculture, joined in the lively discussion, which helped to identify opportunities for potential linkages among the region’s initiatives and a synergy between them. The linkages could offer a win-win situation for all stakeholders.

The meeting was concluded with an HTMA project steering committee meeting chaired by B.M. Prasanna. The committee members expressed their satisfaction with the strategy, ongoing activities, and the progress being made.

Making villages ‘climate smart’

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Making-villages1“Climatic extremes and variability are  becoming more frequent and resulting in losses for farmers. This issue cannot be addressed in isolation; it needs collective participation of all stakeholders, at all levels,” stated Clare Stirling, leader of the CIMMYT component of the Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) CRP, at a stakeholder consultation on ‘Climate Smart Agricultural Technologies for Smallholder Farmers of Bihar’ held on 22 July 2013.

The talks were organized by CIMMYT and BISA, under the aegis of CCAFS, and in collaboration with national research and extension partners such as the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Rajendra Agriculture University, the State Department of Agriculture, and the Government of Bihar; international centers Bioversity International, the International Water Management Institute, and the International Food Policy Research Institute; local NGO and private sector partners; and farmer groups of the Climate Smart Village (CSV) clusters, Vaishali district, Bihar.

Making-villages3The lively discussions included almost 200 participants, including innovative CSV farmers from Bhatthadasi, Rajapakar, and Mukundpur (Vaishali district); agriculture advisors from various Village Panchayats; climate smart farmer groups, research students, and local service providers. M.L. Jat, CIMMYT-CCAFS South Asia Leader, explained the concept of CCAFS CSVs in South Asia, and the key climate smart activities they are implementing for the benefit of smallholder farmers in Bihar’s Vaishali district. Participants visited demonstration plots where R.K. Jat, CIMMYT-BISA Cropping Systems Agronomist, showed how mechanization and conservation agriculture-based management practices are being implemented even on small, fragmented land holdings. By effectively ‘pooling’ their land for operational purposes, farmers have improved efficiency, reduced costs, and established timely crop management even with uncertain rainfall. R.K. Jat also explained the main advantages of the key climate smart interventions such as zero tillage, Direct Seeded Rice (DSR), raised bed planting, residue management, crop diversification, and nutrient management in managing climate risks and optimizing resources for higher profitability for the smallholders.

Making-villages2The active participation of about 80 female farmers allowed for a balanced and varied consultation. All the farmers expressed their concerns regarding climate variability and how it is affecting their livelihoods. They shared their experiences of turning their villages into CSVs, and how the new practices have benefitted them; after planting their wheat under zero till in the winter of 2012-13, farmers were initially skeptical of these changes to age-old practices, but having now reaped higher yields with less input costs, all the farmers have committed to planting under zero tillage next season. DSR has also been recently introduced, and the farmers thought the technology seemed promising in that it would reduce cultivation costs and provide some security under the increasing uncertainties of rainfall and labor shortages. The women farmers praised the intoduction of the ZT machine by CIMMYT under CCAFS. With many men migrating to cities, the women highlighted the reduced labor load with the increased availability of machinery and bed planting of maize and legumes.

I.S. Solanki, IARI Regional Station Head, emphasized the need for farmers to work with scientists in adopting resilient farm technologies and locally-adapted seed. This was reiterated by Stirling: “The concept of CSVs is just one example of making synergies among different programs, investments, institutions, and stakeholders, for adaptation, risk management, and mitigation of climate change effects,” she said.

Nitrogen-use-efficient maize ready for release in Africa

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Bish-croppedBig news for public and private maize breeders and seed providers in Africa: you can now test your lines and hybrids under controlled stress conditions that allow you to tell how they’ll perform when grown by farmers. The latest results from regional maize stress screening trials and other important topics formed the agenda of the annual meeting of the Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS) project, which during 10-12 July 2013 drew more than 70 participants to its Nairobi venue, including representatives from CIMMYT, which leads the project,  key partners DuPont Pioneer, the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) and South Africa’s Agricultural Research Council (ARC), from African seed companies, from organizations like One Acre Fund, and from project funder the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

“There’s been great interest from private companies to test their germplasm in our regional trials,” said acting project lead and CIMMYT maize breeder Biswanath Das, who cited the project’s stress screening networks as an unprecedented achievement in the region. “The 2012-13 trials included 114 maize lines and hybrids from 13 partners, including 6 companies, that were tested at 40 locations region-wide. Trial environments include nitrogen-depleted soils and controlled drought stress, closely replicating actual farm conditions.”

After water, nitrogen is the single most important input for maize production; lack of it is the principal constraint to cereal yields in Africa, in areas with adequate rainfall. An illustration of that importance, this photo shows the very different response of the same maize variety to zero versus 80 kilograms of nitrogen fertilizer on an experiment station plot.
After water, nitrogen is the single most important input for maize production; lack of it is the principal constraint to cereal yields in Africa, in areas with adequate rainfall. An illustration of that importance, this photo shows the very different response of the same maize variety to zero versus 80 kilograms of nitrogen fertilizer on an experiment station plot.

In the most recent results, yields of elite hybrids from the project match or marginally surpass those of the best widely-grown commercial hybrids in favorable circumstances, while significantly out-yielding them under drought and low-nitrogen conditions, according to trial coordinator and CIMMYT breeder Amsal Tarekegne. “We expect that, through this network, all seed available to farmers will eventually feature higher yields under all conditions that farmers face.”

Launched in February 2010, IMAS is developing maize varieties that better capture the small amount of fertilizer African farmers can afford, and that use the nitrogen more efficiently to produce grain. The project is using molecular markers and transgenic approaches to augment conventional breeding. The varieties are Africa-adapted and will feature added traits like drought tolerance, disease resistance, and preferred grain quality.

Conventionally bred IMAS-derived maize seed is near ready for national testing, certification, and release. Discussions and efforts now center around how best to spread awareness among seed providers and farmers and how to market seed. Meeting participants visited several Kenya field sites, including KARI’s Kiboko research station, where in partnership with KARI, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and CIMMYT are supporting construction of a maize doubled haploid breeding facility expected to be operational in late 2013. Recently recruited CIMMYT molecular geneticist Michael Olsen, who is taking up coordination of IMAS, thanked everyone for the warm welcome he’d received. “I’m really excited about working in this project,” he said. “The energy coming from the meeting was tremendous.”

Project oversight committee members, Zimbabwean researcher Idah Sithole-Niang and retired maize physiologist Greg Edmeades, as well as Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation program officer Gary Atlin, expressed their pleasure at the progress to date. “Low productivity due to poor soil fertility is the greatest challenge to African agriculture,” said Atlin. “Breeding is one way to address this. Thanks for your superb efforts.”

Research battles wheat spot blotch disease

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wheat-spot-blotch-diseaseAfter screening some 500 wheat lines and varieties at 6 sites in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal, a group of scientists were able to identify 35 genotypes that resist spot blotch. This is the number-one disease of wheat in the Eastern Gangetic Plains, seriously damaging the crops of farmers—who are mostly smallholders—on some 9 million hectares.

The results were reported at a meeting of participants in two projects of WHEAT, the CGIAR Research Program on this crop, at Mohanpur Campus of IISER-Kolkata, India, on 24 June 2013. Funded through multi-year competitive grants from WHEAT, the two project are “Deciphering phytohormone signaling in modulation of resistance to spot blotch disease for identification of novel resistance components for wheat improvement,” led by Shree P. Pandey, IISER-Kolkata, and “Spot blotch of wheat: Delivering resistant wheat lines and diagnostic and molecular markers for resistance,” led by Ramesh Chand of Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. Among other things, participants discussed year-one outcomes and laid plans for the coming crop cycle.

Chand reported on the seedling stage resistance found in the wheat tested. In this type of resistance, the pathogen is present on wheat seedlings for up to 25 days without any infection, exhibiting responses such as lesion mimic and tissue necrosis, which appear to attenuate pathogen effects. The resistance gene Sr2 was also found in most of the resistant seed.

Exciting moments in the meeting were the discussions of biochemical and histo-pathological parameters and their possible integration in the resistance screening. Pandey and his team reported novel research to understand phytohormone signals that regulate wheat’s resistance against Bipolaris sorokiniana–the causal pathogen of spot blotch—and which are synthesized in response to the pathogen’s attack. The IISER group is assembling a dictionary of signaling genes that can serve as genomic tools for resistance breeding in wheat. “Expression of these DNA ‘words’ changes when plants are attacked by the spot blotch pathogen,” said Pandey. “Deciphering this word choice can elucidate the chain of command in plants in to the pathogen, helping breeders to design plants better-equipped with resistance genes.”

Finally, there was a report on the field performance of the 500 lines at two other locations, UBKV Coochbehar and RAU Pusa.

In addition to the scientists mentioned above, participants included WHEAT manager Victor Komerell; CIMMYT researcher Arun Joshi; Prof. V.K. Mishra, BHU, Varanasi; Prof. Apurba Chowdhury; Dr. P.M. Bhattacharya, UBKV; and Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Rajendra Agricultural University, Pusa, Bihar; as well as other wheat researchers from IISER-K.

“The partners here submitted separate proposals for the projects,” said Komerell. “This meeting furnishes an example of how WHEAT has encouraged them to collaborate.”

Two new maize hybrids released in Bolivia

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maize-hybrids1Bolivia’s National Institute for Agricultural, Livestock and Forestry Innovation (INIAF), in collaboration with CIMMYT, released two new maize hybrids, INIAF H1 and INIAF HQ2, targeting drought-prone areas with high production potential. The release was announced at an event held on 13-14 June 2013 in Villa Montes and Yacuiba.

The new releases are single-cross hybrids derived from CIMMYT lines. INIAF H1 is a yellow flint hybrid with good lodging resistance and excellent husk cover; INIAF HQ2 is a yellow semi-dent hybrid with high protein content (quality protein maize, QPM) and moderate drought tolerance. Both were tested at Villa Montes, where they competed favorably with two widely sown commercial checks, yielding 7 t/ha despite the low (352 mm) rainfall during the growing season.

While Bolivia is self-sufficient in maize production with about 300,000 ha sown to maize and an average yield of 3.3 t/ha, climate change is starting to impact the agricultural sector just like in other Latin American countries. Weather conditions during the current crop season have been unfavorable for production due to persistent drought, and last week the government declared the region of Chaco, where 80% of the country’s maize is produced, a natural disaster area.

FĂ©lix San Vicente receiving an award from the Minister of Energy.
FĂ©lix San Vicente receiving an award from the Minister of Energy.

In the light of the challenges, RubĂ©n Vaca, Sector Executive of Villa Montes, who led the event during the first day, congratulated INIAF on its achievements and noted their potential for increasing the profitability of maize production. Similar sentiment was expressed by Nemesia Achacollo, Minister of Land and Rural Development, and JosĂ© Sosa, Minister of Energy and Hydrocarbons, who attended the event in Yacuiba on day two. Achacollo applauded the release of the hybrids and announced that “the Ministry is allotting 2 million US$ to INIAF to support their maize program.” As the Ministry of Energy and Hydrocarbons is also involved in agriculture, Sosa stated that the urea factory being built in Cochabamba will support the development of Chaco Tarijeño and the country as a whole. Marcial Rengifo, Sector Development Executive of Chaco Tarijeño in Yacuiba, then stressed the importance of the hybrids for Chaco farmers, and Jemy Gonzales, manager of the National Seed Company, committed to multiplying all the hybrids released by INIAF in the future to ensure that high quality seed is accessible to farmers in a timely fashion and at a reasonable price.

After Achacollo presented a hybrids release certificate to INIAF director general Gabriel RenĂ© Hoyos Bonillas, the coordinator of INIAF’s Maize Program, Tito Claure, thanked everyone present and asked that INIAF’s collaboration with CIMMYT be maintained, adding that he “would join forces with all the national institutions involved in maize production.”

“We must promote QPM, which – due to its superior nutritional qualities – benefits both the people who consume it directly as well as pig farmers,” said Luis Narro, CIMMYT maize breeder and focal point for South America. Narro then encouraged INIAF to adopt doubled haploid technology to reduce the time required to develop new hybrids and indicated that the GreenSeeker handheld sensor could be used to optimize nitrogen fertilization in maize crops.

Luis Narro explains the advantages of hybrid INIAF H1.
Luis Narro explains the advantages of hybrid INIAF H1.

“The CIMMYT-INIAF collaboration that led to the hybrids release is part of CIMMYT’s regional efforts conducted jointly with an improved germplasm evaluation network in the lowland tropics of Latin America,” said FĂ©lix San Vicente, CIMMYT maize breeder for Latin America. “We are ready to strengthen these links in the future in order to be able to handle the negative impacts of climate change on the Chaco region in Bolivia,” he added.

At the end of the event, Narro and San Vicente received awards from the Bolivian authorities in recognition of their inter-institutional collaboration and joint successes.

Nutrient Expertℱ decision support tools for maize and wheat launched

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Nutrient-ExpertℱThe Nutrient Expertℱ decision support tools for maize and wheat in India were officially launched for public use on 20 June 2013 at the National Agricultural Science Centre Complex in New Delhi during a meeting jointly organized by the International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI) and CIMMYT.

Beginning in 2009 under the umbrella of the Cereal System Initiative in South Asia (CSISA) and later CRPs MAIZE, WHEAT, and CCAFS, the tools were developed through a joint effort of IPNI, CIMMYT, and national agricultural research systems to help Indian farmers achieve higher yields and profits. These easy-to-use, interactive, computer-based tools capture spatial and temporal variability to provide precise nutrient recommendations to smallholder farmers in the wheat and maize systems of India.

The Nutrient Expertℱ was developed in collaboration with target users and local stakeholders from public and private sectors through a series of dialogues and consultations, using site-specific nutrient management principles. As a result, the tools reflect resource constraints of smallholder farmers, lack of access to soil testing, and absence of tillage-specific nutrient management strategies in India. In a three-year validation process assessing their efficacy under contrasting management scenarios, conducted across a large number of locations in collaboration with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), state agricultural universities, state agriculture departments, and fertilizer and seed industries, the tools have shown improved productivity, profitability, efficiency, and reduced environmental footprints over existing fertilizer management practices. According to Bruno Gerard, Global Conservation Agriculture Program director, “the excellent outputs of the IPNI-CIMMYT partnership will benefit not only South Asia but also other regions.” Adding to the positives of the tools, IPNI vice president Adrian M. Johnston praised their unique ability to link databases for output.

The tools were launched at the presence of CIMMYT director general Thomas Lumpkin, ICAR Crop Sciences deputy director general Swapan K. Datta, agricultural commissioner with the Government of India JS Sandhu, Adrian M. Johnston, Bruno Gerard, and ICAR assistant director general for Natural Resource Management B. Moham Kumar. As India faces many challenges to feed its growing population with changing food habits, Lumpkin emphasized the need for new tools: “We need to apply precision agriculture on each square meter; we need tools like the Nutrient Expertℱ and remote-sensing technology to be able to do so.”

During panel discussions following the launch, participants stressed the importance of the tools and charted out the future course of action for their large-scale dissemination. “The challenges currently faced by South Asia should be used as an opportunity to create impact. Enabling farmers to apply fertilizer nutrients correctly and in a more precise way is one such opportunity,” said Datta. The Nutrient Expertℱ tools will also help reduce the knowledge gap between extension workers and farmers, he added. Concerned about the degradation of natural resources, Kumar stressed that “excessive and imbalanced use of chemicals significantly contributes to nonpoint source pollution. A precise, site-specific nutrient management approach is a welcome solution to this problem.”

The concluding session, chaired by KD Kokate, ICAR deputy director general for extension, and co-chaired by CIMMYT’s Raj Gupta, provided necessary guidance for dissemination throughout the national system and other stakeholders.

The program was coordinated by IPNI-South Asia director Kaushik Majumdar and CIMMYT senior cropping systems agronomist ML Jat.Nutrient-Expertℱ3

International scientists compare hot models at CIMMYT

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AgMIP_workshop_original-croppedHot models were the main topic of conversation at El Batan during 19-21 June 2013, when international experts from 18 leading research institutions participated in a workshop on “Modeling Wheat Responses to High Temperature.”

This workshop was organized by CIMMYT’s Wheat Physiology group and funded by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) in collaboration with the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP).

One key goal of CCAFS and AgMIP is to enhance global climate change impact assessment and adaptation capacity.

This workshop focused on understanding where and why crop simulation models diverge in their simulation of wheat responses to high temperatures. According to one of the workshop organizers, CIMMYT post-doc Phillip Alderman, “Previous studies by AgMIP-Wheat showed that temperature effects are one of the largest limitations in modeling the impacts of climate change. We hope that this workshop will enhance our understanding of wheat responses to high temperatures and facilitate further discussions on improving modeling to predict climate change impacts on wheat.”

The AgMIP-Wheat team will now embark on a systematic analysis of temperature response algorithms, as well as continuing their evaluation of wheat models, using CIMMYT wheat physiology data from high temperature environments.

This research is expected to instigate better policy decisions aimed at improving the food security of thousands of smallholder farmers in least-developed countries who depend on wheat as a staple food and who are most likely to be impacted by climate change.

Building capacity of East African seed companies through training

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Seed production workshop participants visited a hybrid seed field at East African Seeds in Uganda.
Seed production workshop participants visited a hybrid seed field at East African Seeds in Uganda.

In recent years seed companies in Tanzania and Uganda have seen tremendous growth, resulting largely from the uptake of new drought tolerant maize varieties from both national and international organizations (see Table 1). This is accompanied by an increasing number of improved maize varieties taken up by the companies, growth in seed production, and general expansion of the companies’ work volume, which results in need for more well-trained technical staff. Recognizing this, several companies in the region turned to CIMMYT with a request for a training course to equip seed technicians with skills to produce seed of various classes and to supply farmers with quality seeds. In response to the request, CIMMYT organized two training sessions: from 8-10 January 2013 in Tanzania and from 10-12 June 2013 in Uganda.

Click on the table to zoom in.
Click on the table to zoom in.

Delivered by James Gethi, Biswanath Das, and Mosisa Worku Regasa, together with Godfrey Asea in Uganda, the course covered all aspects of the seed value chain, including seed processing, quality control of seed production, customer service, contracting growers, maize varieties and their characteristics, seed storage, marketing strategies, and handling of unsold stock; it also touched on agronomy.

In Tanzania the course attracted 25 participants from 8 seed companies; in Uganda there were 39 attendees from 14 seed companies, the Uganda Seed Trade Association (USTA), and the National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI).

“Capacity building in local seed companies is important,” said Bob Shuma, executive director of the Tanzania Seed Trade Association (TASTA), encouraging participants to seek opportunities to enhance their skills and knowledge of the seed business from CIMMYT and other partners. “Products and services of good quality are key in the process of building customers’ trust, which contributes to the success of the company. This can only be achieved through training and adherence to laws and regulations set by the government,” he added.

To determine the effectiveness of the course and delivery methods, participants were evaluated before and after the course. The pre- and post-course quizzes indicated an improvement of knowledge in both countries by over 34%. Those with top scores on the quiz were recognized for their outstanding performance, and all participants received a CD with resource materials and a copy of The Seed Business Management in Africa (MacRobert 2009).

Godfrey Asea, crop breeder and cereal research leader at NaCRRI, and Masagazi Cliff-Richard, USTA chairman and managing director of Pearl Seeds Ltd, who participated in the course in Uganda, thanked CIMMYT for organizing the training and urged everyone to use the newly-acquired knowledge to produce and supply quality seed to Ugandan farmers. “Uganda needs an improved seed industry,” said Cliff-Richard emphasizing the value of the course.Tanzania-Group-photograph2

The CRP MAIZE will be hosting a side event on the role of maize in Africa at the Africa Agriculture Science Week (15-20 July) on 16 July in Accra, Ghana. Join us if you can and follow the AASW Blog and #AASW6 on Twitter.

Four new maize varieties released in Ethiopia

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A happy farmer holding cobs of BH547 (right hand) and BH546 (left hand).

The national productivity of maize, one of the most important staple crops grown in Ethiopia, is close to 3 tons/ha, a 50% increase since 2008. This increase is attributed mainly to the use of new technologies, including improved varieties such as the ones developed and provided to smallholder farmers by the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) and CIMMYT. This year, the National Maize Research Program of EIAR in collaboration with CIMMYT released four new varieties for high-potential and drought-prone maize growing areas.

The new varieties include BH546 and BH547, intermediate maturing, three-way cross hybrids released for high-potential maize growing areas, and MH140 and Melkassa-1Q for drought-prone areas. The varieties were either developed from CIMMYT source germplasm or they contain CIMMYT inbred lines as one of their parents. BH546 has a yield advantage of 30% and 10% over BH540 and BH543, the most popular hybrids adapted to the same agro-ecology, with a mean yield potential of 8.7 tons/ha across several locations under optimum management conditions. Its narrow semi-erect leaves make it desirable for high-density planting and inter-cropping with legumes, a common practice in most maize growing areas of the country. BH547 has a grain yield advantage of 26.4% and 7% over BH540 and BH543, respectively, and mean grain yield of 10 tons/ ha. Farmers participating in variety selection preferred the hybrids over the popular varieties for their bigger cob size, good husk cover, high yield potential, and better reaction to known diseases of the area.

BH546 in the field.
BH546 in the field.

MH140, originally developed by CIMMYT-Zimbabwe, is a highly stable high-yielding hybrid tolerant to drought and low nitrogen stresses, as well as major foliar diseases of the central rift valley of Ethiopia. MH140 showed a yield advantage of 18% and 10% over the popular hybrids of the drought prone areas, MH130 and MHQ138, respectively. Melkasa1Q, developed for dry and marginal maize growing areas of Ethiopia, is a quality protein maize version of an extra-early maturing open-pollinated variety Melkasa-1 developed through backcrossing-cum- recurrent selection. The whole grain of Melkasa1Q contains 3.9% lysine and 0.9% tryptophan, about twofold of the levels in Melkassa-1; it shows an 11% grain yield increase over Melkasa-1, with mean grain yield of 4.6 tons/ha.

EIAR in collaboration with CIMMYT and the Ministry of Agriculture have begun variety demonstration and popularization to promote the seed delivery system. Private and public seed companies involved in seed production can take up these varieties and embark on their production and marketing.

EIAR thanks CIMMYT breeders, seed specialists, and project leaders Dagne Wegary, Dan Makumbi, Amsal Tarekegne, Cosmos Magorokosho, Tsedeke Abate, and Mulugeta Mekuria for their technical and financial support leading to the release of the varieties.

ATMA annual review meeting and maize farmer-scientist interaction

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meeting-with-farmersRajasthan is one of the most stress-prone dry states of India, where farmers grow maize as major crop for food and domestic consumption. As such, it provided a perfect setting for the 2nd Annual Progress Review and Planning Meeting for the Abiotic Stress Tolerant Maize for Asia (ATMA) project. The meeting, jointly organized by the Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology (MPUAT) and CIMMYT, took place at MPUAT in Udaipur, Rajasthan, during 5-6 June 2013.

ATMA is an Asian regional collaborative initiative led by CIMMYT aimed at increasing income and food security of the resource-poor in South and Southeast Asia. The project connects national agricultural research systems, including the Directorate of Maize Research (DMR), India; MPUAT, India; Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University, India; National Maize Research Institute (NMRI), Vietnam; Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI); Institute of Plant Breeding at the University of the Philippines, Los Baños (IPB-UPLB), Philippines; and the University of Hohenheim, Germany. The project is supported by Deutsche Gesellschaft fĂŒr Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).

During his welcome speech addressing participants representing all ATMA collaborators, R.B. Dubey (MPUAT) highlighted the importance of partnerships between CIMMYT and regional institutions, especially for addressing such complex issues as tolerance to abiotic stresses in maize. The welcome address launched the opening session chaired by vice-chancellor of MPUAT-Udaipur Om Prakash Gill. This session consisted of presentations by MPUAT research director P.L. Paliwal, who focused on the university’s contributions to agricultural development in general and maize improvement for food security and income of Rajasthan farmers in particular, and by B.S. Vivek (CIMMYT) who talked about the importance of abiotic stresses in maize production in Asia.
Photo-with-farmer-groupThe session’s chairman added: “Our maize farmers have many choices regarding high-yielding varieties and technologies for optimal conditions, and they are experts in achieving high yields under such conditions. But when it comes to stress conditions they have very few choices, and that is where they need our intervention.”

During a session on annual progress review, the ATMA project leader P.H. Zaidi gave a brief overview of the project, indicating the commitments and milestones. Avinash Singode (DMR), Dang Ngoc Ha (NMRI), Reshma Sultana (BARI), and Ayn Christina (IPB-UPLB) then presented on the project’s progress over the past year, and CIMMYT’s Zaidi and Raman Babu covered the work done by CIMMYT and partners, as well as the status of progress on various outputs of the project. Christian Boeber (CIMMYT) and V.K. Yadav (DMR) jointly summarized the socioeconomic component and provided field survey results, and CIMMYT’s Kai Sonder and Pardhasaradhi Teluguntla discussed spatial analysis with focus on the progress in mapping maize production zones and stress-prone target ecologies in South Asia.

The afternoon session, led by CIMMYT-Hyderabad post-doctoral fellow M.T. Vinayan, focused on work plan creation, assigning tasks to partners, and activities for next year. Opportunities for further research and learning provided by ATMA were also discussed, reflecting upon previous events, including a capacity building workshop on doubled haploid in maize breeding attended by ATMA partners at the University of Hohenheim, Germany, during 12-15 April 2012, and training on precision phenotyping for abiotic stress tolerance in maize during 29 August – 1 September 2012 at CIMMYT-Hyderabad. Furthermore, two interns – one from Bangladesh and one from Vietnam – were trained on the key aspects of breeding for enhancing water-logging and drought tolerance in maize at CIMMYT-Hyderabad from 1 August to 16 September 2012.

On the second day of the meeting, the team visited a nearby village to interact with maize farmers living in a stressprone agro-ecology. Dilip Singh, MPUAT, introduced the participants to farmers of the Fathnagar village where Bhanwar Lal Paliwal, an 84-year-old farmer who still spends four to six hours per day in the field, shared his experience with agriculture and maize. “I have been growing maize since I was a child,” he said, “maize is major part of my daily diet which is why I am still strong and fit even at the age of 84.” Paliwal then shared a famous local saying – Makki ki roti khayege, Rajasthan chhor ke kahi nahi jayege, meaning “we will eat corn bread and never leave Rajasthan” – and added that although there have been many new maize varieties introduced in the region in recent years, they are less stress tolerant in comparison to the old local varieties. “New high-yielding hybrids with tolerance to drought stress are much needed, as rainfall is declining, or becoming more erratic, every year,” he urged the ATMA team to continue their much appreciated work. “I am looking forward to stress resilient maize varieties that will help us harvest good yields even in bad years,” added Paliwal.

meeting-in-progressThe farmer-scientist interaction produced very useful insights into the issues faced by maize farmers in the region and reiterated the importance of stress tolerant maize varieties for their livelihood. To conclude the day, farmers prepared and shared various maize dishes with the delegation.

Promoting resilient diversification options through maize and climate smart practices in India

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“Declining water table, deteriorating soil health, labor shortages, increasing energy prices, and more frequent climate extremes are among the major long-term threats to food security in India,” stated ML Jat, CIMMYT senior cropping systems agronomist, at the Stakeholders’ Consultation on Promoting Resilient Diversification Options through Maize and Climate Smart Practices on 20 May 2013 in Karnal, Haryana, India.

India5
About 300 stakeholders from a range of public and private organizations attended the consultation, including representatives from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Central Soil Salinity Research Institute (CSSRI), Directorate of Wheat Research (DWR), Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, the Indian Maize Development Association (IMDA), the International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI), the Haryana Agricultural University (HAU), and the State Department of Agriculture, Government of India. After a welcome speech by DK Sharma, CSSRI director, RS Paroda, chairman of the Haryana Farmers Commission at the Government of Haryana and the chief guest of the function, explained the reasons behind the meeting, stressing the criticality of the current situation. “On one hand, we are facing many problems threatening our agricultural system,” he said, “on the other, we are exploring the possibilities of a second Green Revolution for sustainable food and nutritional security in India.” This cannot be achieved without multistakeholder partnerships, as the tasks are numerous: “We need to combine new technologies with active and strategic partnerships, establish an environment in which farmers can easily access markets, and create new business models to make agriculture more attractive to the youth and to women.”

JS Sandhu, agriculture commissioner at the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, and the event’s guest of honor, commented on climate extremes which caused a decline in food production during 2012- 13. He stressed the importance of technologies helping with adaptation to and mitigation of climate change effects, such as zero tillage, direct seeded rice, or tools like GreenSeeker, but also the need to diversify rice with maize and other economically competitive and more water efficient crops in the north-western part of India. “Maize is the queen of cereals,” added Alok K Sikka, the event’s chair and deputy director general of the Natural Resource Management at ICAR, “but there has been a 66% decline in maize growing areas in Haryana since the Green Revolution in 1966.” To achieve long-term sustainable ecological intensification of farming systems, Sikka added, conservation agriculture is crucial. Accordingly, several new research initiatives have begun at ICAR focusing on natural resource management. “Partnerships and synergies with advanced research institutes like CIMMYT, CRPs MAIZE, WHEAT, and Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), and other research-for-development organizations are critical for impact at scale,” concluded Sikka.

As part of the consultation, panel discussions were held on resilient diversification options through maize (chaired by Sain Dass, IMDA president) and on promoting climate smart practices (chaired by Indu Sharma, DWR director); the discussions were followed by a plenary session chaired by DP Singh (Natural Resource Management expert, Haryana Farmers Commission). The panel discussions reiterated what was said during the presentations and added several new areas of focus, for example the use of information and communication technologies and knowledge networks to provide farmers with real time access to information in an easy-to-understand form.

The event was jointly organized under the aegis of CRPs CCAFS and WHEAT by CIMMYT in collaboration with CSSRI, ICAR, Haryana Farmers Commission, HAU, State Department of Agriculture, Government of Haryana, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India and Farmer Cooperatives of Climate Smart Villages.

Three new drought-tolerant maize hybrids released in Malawi

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Malawi-hybrid-releaseThree drought-tolerant maize hybrids performing well in drought-prone areas and tolerant of Malawi’s major maize diseases have been released in Malawi. The new hybrids, said a member of the Agricultural Technology Clearing Committee, will contribute to the subsidy program that has seen Malawi become self-sufficient in maize production and even export surplus maize to neighboring countries. They will also be important in mitigating climate change. “Maize accounts for over 70% of cereal production,” maize commodity team leader Kesbelll Kaonga explained the importance of maize for the country, adding that Malawians consume on average about 300 kg per year.

The hybrids, developed under the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project by the Malawian Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and Chitedze Research Station in collaboration with CIMMYT and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), were also tested in farmers’ fields. “The farmers liked them because of the high grain yield, drought tolerance, and flint grains,” Kaonga said, explaining that Malawian farmers prefer flint maize because its grains store better and provide more flour per kilogram compared to dent maize. The new hybrids can yield up to eight tons per hectare under optimum conditions.

The hybrids—Malawi Hybrids 30, 31, and 32—have been allocated to local seed companies that will start seed production during the coming season. Most of the emerging seed companies depend on germplasm from CIMMYT and the national agricultural research systems, as they do not have their own breeding programs. Variety demonstrations and publicity materials are planned to promote seed delivery in collaboration with seed companies and the Chitedze Research Station. The Department of Agricultural Research thanked CIMMYT breeders and seed specialists Peter Setimela, Amsal Tarekegne, John MacRobert, and Cosmos Magorokosho, who worked closely with them to get the hybrids released.

The CRP MAIZE will be hosting a side event on the role of maize in Africa at the Africa Agriculture Science Week (15-20 July) on 16 July in Accra, Ghana. Join us if you can and follow the AASW Blog and #AASW6 on Twitter.