Theme: Innovations

Working with smallholders to understand their needs and build on their knowledge, CIMMYT brings the right seeds and inputs to local markets, raises awareness of more productive cropping practices, and works to bring local mechanization and irrigation services based on conservation agriculture practices. CIMMYT helps scale up farmers’ own innovations, and embraces remote sensing, mobile phones and other information technology. These interventions are gender-inclusive, to ensure equitable impacts for all.

The Prime Minister of Rwanda, Édouard Ngirente, and other leaders discussed regional and national priorities at the Africa Food Security Leadership Dialogue. (Photo: Martin Kropff/CIMMYT)

African leaders rely on science and technology to improve food security

Written by Jennifer Johnson on August 28, 2019. Posted in Features.

Rural areas in Africa are facing unprecedented challenges. From high levels of rural-urban migration to the need to maintain crop production and food security under the added stress of climate change, rural areas need investment and support. The recent Africa Food Security Leadership Dialogue brought together key regional actors to discuss the current situation as well as ways to catalyze actions and financing to help address Africa’s worsening food security crisis under climate change.

Heads of state, ministers of agriculture and finance, heads of international institutions and regional economic commissions, Nobel laureates, and eminent scientists took part in the dialogue in Kigali, Rwanda, on August 5 and 6, 2019.

This high-level meeting was convened by core partners including the African Union Commission (AUC), the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and the World Bank.

The Director General of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Martin Kropff, participated in a session entitled “Leveraging science to end hunger by 2025”, where he discussed the challenges to adapt Africa’s wheat sector to climate change, and what CIMMYT is doing to help. Demand for wheat is growing faster than any other commodity, and sub-Saharan Africa has tremendous potential to increase wheat production. People in Africa consume nearly 47 million tons of wheat a year. However, more than 80% of that — 39 million tons— is imported and used for human consumption, costing the countries billions of dollars. Kropff discussed the great strides CIMMYT has made in supporting wheat production on the continent despite biological challenges such as Ug99, a dangerous strain of wheat rust native to east Africa.

“The potential for wheat production in Africa is tremendous; existing varieties already realize very high yields but poor agronomic practices often result in low yields,” Kropff said. “The challenges we have to tackle together are as much in reshaping policies in favor of wheat and develop the wheat market and surrounding infrastructure. Africa’s environment is friendly for wheat production, but it needs the right supporting policies to develop a sustainable wheat market.”

Kropff highlighted Ethiopia’s case. “Ethiopia has decided to become self-sufficient in wheat by 2025. CIMMYT is already talking to the government and working with the national system to assure the best varieties and technologies will be used. We are ready to do this with every single African nation that is interested in producing quality wheat.”

Farmer Galana Mulatu harvests a wheat research plot in Ethiopia. (Photo: P.Lowe/CIMMYT)

Climate change is also posing dire threats to maize, a key staple crop in sub-Saharan Africa.

We talked to Cosmos Magorokosho, CIMMYT researcher and project leader of the Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) project, who attended the dialogue, on what CIMMYT can do to better support farmers in Africa’s rural communities.

How can projects such as Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa contribute to protecting food security in Africa in the face of climate change?

Stress-tolerant maize varieties can contribute by cushioning farmers against total crop failures in case of drought and heat stress, among other stresses during the growing season. In addition, stress-tolerant varieties can also yield well under good growing conditions, therefore benefiting farmers both during difficult growing seasons as well as those seasons when conditions are favorable for maize growth.

What can be done to support rural areas and smallholder farmers in Africa to improve food security?

Rural areas and smallholder farmers need support with climate resilient crop varieties, supporting agronomic practices, environment conserving farming practices, labor and drudgery- reducing farm operations, access to affordable finance, and rewarding markets for their produce.

What role can international research organizations such as CIMMYT play in this?

International agricultural research can unlock the potential of small holder farmers through the generation of new appropriate technologies, testing and helping farmers adopt those technologies, refining and fine tuning of new technologies, as well as scaling up and out of farmer-demanded technologies. International agriculture research can influence policy across and within borders, political divide, religion, ecologies, and diversity of farmers.

What would it take for CIMMYT to effectively move science from the lab and package it into solutions that can be disseminated and adopted by majority of small family farms in Africa?

CIMMYT should keep and broaden its engagement with farmers, policy makers, and continue with capacity enhancement of partners to reach scale and bring new cutting-edge smallholder-farmer appropriate technologies to farmers’ fields in the shortest possible timeframe.

Scientists use DNA fingerprinting to gauge the spread of modern wheat in Afghanistan

Written by Mike Listman on August 22, 2019. Posted in Press releases.

Wheat is Afghanistan’s number-one staple crop, but the country doesn’t grow enough and must import millions of tons of grain each year to satisfy domestic demand. — Wheat is Afghanistan’s number-one staple crop, but the country does not grow enough and must import millions of tons of grain each year to satisfy domestic demand.

Despite the severe social and political unrest that constrain agriculture in Afghanistan, many farmers are growing high-yielding, disease resistant varieties developed through international, science-based breeding and made available to farmers as part of partnerships with national wheat experts and seed producers.

These and other findings have emerged from the first-ever large-scale use of DNA fingerprinting to assess Afghanistan farmers’ adoption of improved wheat varieties, which are replacing less productive local varieties and landraces, according to a paper published yesterday in the science journal BMC Genomics.

The study is part of an activity supported between 2003 and 2018 by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, through which the Agricultural Research Institute of Afghanistan and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) introduced, tested, and released improved wheat varieties.

“As part of our study, we established an extensive ‘reference library’ of released varieties, elite breeding lines, and Afghan wheat landraces,” said Susanne Dreisigacker, wheat molecular breeder at CIMMYT and lead author of the new paper.

“We then compared wheat collected on farmers’ fields with the reference library. Of the 560 wheat samples collected in 4 provinces during 2015-16, farmers misidentified more than 40%, saying they were of a different variety from that which our DNA analyses later identified.”

Wheat is the most important staple crop in Afghanistan — more than 20 million of the country’s rural inhabitants depend on it — but wheat production is unstable and Afghanistan has been importing between 2 and 3 million tons of grain each year to meet demand.

Over half of the population lives below the poverty line, with high rates of malnutrition. A key development aim in Afghanistan is to foster improved agronomic practices and the use of high quality seed of improved wheat varieties, which together can raise yields by over 50%.

“Fungal diseases, particularly yellow rust and stem rust, pose grave threats to wheat in the country,” said Eric Huttner, research program manager for crops at the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and co-author of the present paper. “It’s crucial to know which wheat varieties are being grown where, in order to replace the susceptible ones with high-performing, disease resistant varieties.”

Varietal adoption studies typically rely on questionnaires completed by breeders, extension services, seed producers, seed suppliers, and farmers, but such surveys are complicated, expensive, and often inaccurate.

“DNA fingerprinting resolves uncertainties regarding adoption and improves related socioeconomic research and farm policies,” Huttner explained, adding that for plant breeding this technology has been used mostly to protect intellectual property, such as registered breeding lines and varieties in more developed economies.

This new study was commissioned by ACIAR as a response to a request from the Government of Afghanistan for assistance in characterizing the Afghan wheat gene bank, according to Huttner.

“This provided the reference library against which farmers’ samples could be compared,” he explained. “Accurately identifying the varieties that farmers grow is key evidence on the impact of introducing improved varieties and will shape our future research

Joint research and development efforts involving CIMMYT, ACIAR, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, the International Centre of Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA), French Cooperation, and Afghanistan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) and Agricultural Research Institute (ARIA) have introduced more than 400 modern, disease-resistant wheat varieties over the last two decades. Nearly 75% of the wheat grown in the areas surveyed for this study comes from these improved varieties.

“New sequencing technologies are increasingly affordable and their cost will continue to fall,” said Dreisigacker. “Expanded use of DNA fingerprinting can easily and accurately identify the wheat cultivars in farmers’ fields, thus helping to target breeding, agronomy, and development efforts for better food security and farmer livelihoods.”

For more information, or to arrange interviews with the researchers, please contact:

Marcia MacNeil, Wheat Communications Officer, CIMMYT
M.MacNeil@cgiar.org, +52 (55) 5804 2004, ext. 2070

Rodrigo Ordóñez, Communications Manager, CIMMYT
r.ordonez@cgiar.org, +52 (55) 5804 2004, ext. 1167

About CIMMYT
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is the global leader in publicly funded maize and wheat research and related farming systems. Headquartered near Mexico City, CIMMYT works with hundreds of partners throughout the developing world to sustainably increase the productivity of maize and wheat cropping systems, thus improving global food security and reducing poverty. CIMMYT is a member of CGIAR and leads the CGIAR Research Programs on Maize and Wheat, and the Excellence in Breeding Platform. The center receives support from national governments, foundations, development banks and other public and private agencies.

About ACIAR
As Australia’s specialist international agricultural research for development agency, the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) brokers and funds research partnerships between Australian scientists and their counterparts in developing countries. Since 1982, ACIAR has supported research projects in eastern and southern Africa, East Asia, South and West Asia and the Pacific, focusing on crops, agribusiness, horticulture, forestry, livestock, fisheries, water and climate, social sciences, and soil and land management. ACIAR has commissioned and managed more than 1,500 research projects in 36 countries, partnering with 150 institutions along with more than 50 Australian research organizations.

About Afghanistan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock
The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan works on the development and modernization of agriculture, livestock and horticulture. The ministry launches programs to support the farmers, manage natural resources, and strengthen agricultural economics. Its programs include the promotion and introduction of higher-value economic crops, strengthening traditional products, identifying and publishing farm-tailored land technologies, boosting cooperative programs, agricultural economics, and export with marketing.

Breaking Ground: Anani Bruce guards Africa’s maize harvest from insect pests

Written by Mike Listman on August 21, 2019. Posted in Features.

Anani Bruce, maize entomologist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) since 2013, is intensively engaged in an expert partnership supporting African maize farmers’ stand against deadly insect pests, especially fall armyworm and stem borers.

A moth species native to the Americas, fall armyworm was detected in Nigeria in 2016 and in less than three years has overrun sub-Saharan Africa’s maize growing regions. At its larval stage, it feeds on leaves and ears, causing annual harvest losses whose value can exceed $6 billion.

Bruce and his colleagues are rushing to develop maize varieties that feature native genetic resistance to fall armyworm and to arm farmers with locally suited control measures. Finding and strengthening native resistance in maize against the pest is a key pillar of integrated pest management.

“The fall armyworm is so challenging that there’s no single, easy fix,” said Bruce, who earned a PhD in Entomology at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) and Kenyatta University, Kenya, in 2008. “We are testing and promoting an integrated management approach which, along with host plant resistance, includes biological control, habitat management, good agronomic practices, safe chemicals, bio-pesticides, and botanical controls.”

“The costs and complexities of such practices are daunting, but farmers can learn if you help them and there is little alternative right now, given that maize is sub-Saharan Africa’s number-one staple food,” Bruce explained.

According to the scientist, breeding is also laborious, because potentially resistant maize plants must be tested under controlled, heavy infestations of insects and this is allowed only in net houses.

“Net houses don’t provide enough room to grow the large number of maize lines needed for rapid and effective breeding progress,” Bruce said. “Even so, we have promising leads on sources of moderate resistance from maize populations developed by CIMMYT in Mexico in the 1980s-90s.”

A case of switching environments and specialties

A native of Togo, a small West African country between Benin and Ghana, Bruce said he was first interested in studying mechanical engineering but did not get the opportunity at the University of Lomé, Togo, where he did his master’s studies in agronomy. A mentor instead suggested he pursue entomology, and he followed this up at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Cotonou, Benin, where he undertook research on stem borers as a part of his master’s thesis.

“Surprisingly, I found many parallels with mechanical engineering,” said Bruce, who is based at CIMMYT’s office in Kenya. “There is a vast number and diversity of insect species and their roles and interactions in natural systems are incredibly complex, just as occurs between components in mechanical systems.”

When Bruce moved to ICIPE under the African Regional Postgraduate Program in Insect Science (ARPPIS), he needed to add English to his native French and local languages, but said his first major cultural shock was actually dietary.

“In West Africa we usually eat our maize paste with a sauce,” he explained,” but when I sat down to eat in Kenya, I found that the maize paste called ugali was eaten only with milk or meat, a combination known as nyama choma.”

Despite that and other cultural differences, Bruce said he quickly acclimatized to his new work and study setting in eastern Africa.

Nursing maize’s enemies

At CIMMYT, Bruce provides technical backstopping for national research partners to rear maize stem borers and the fall armyworm, as part of breeding improved maize varieties with insect-pest resistance and other relevant traits.

“Special expertise and conditions are required to raise, transport, and apply the eggs or young larvae properly on experimental maize plants, so that infestation levels are as uniform as possible and breeders can identify genetically resistant plants,” Bruce said.

He has also worked with gene constructs from the bacteria known as Bacillus thurigiensis (Bt). When inserted into maize, the constructs bestow the crop with resistance against stem borer species.

“We have plans to deploy Bt maize in selected countries in eastern and southern Africa, but we are awaiting the resolution of regulatory hurdles,” he explained.

Bruce credits Fritz Schulthess, former IITA and ICIPE entomologist, with providing special inspiration and support for his studies and professional development.

“Fritz believes in sharing his scientific experience with upcoming scientists and in speaking his thoughts in black and white,” Bruce said. “He is a workaholic scientist who will review your paper even past midnight and expects your response before 6 am.”

From tinkering mechanic to manufacturing genius

Written by Mary Donovan on August 17, 2019. Posted in In the media.

By 2012, young Bangladeshi mechanic Md Ole Ullah was working with the USAID funded Agricultural Mechanization and Irrigation Project, implemented by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), and International Development Enterprises (iDE Bangladesh). The new collaboration helped Ole develop the market for his locally-manufactured machines. Read more here.

New platform rapidly diagnoses wheat rust

Written by Mary Donovan on August 13, 2019. Posted in In the media.

“Knowing which strain you have is critical information that can be incorporated into early warning systems and results in more effective control of disease outbreaks in farmer’s fields” said Dr. Dave Hodson, a rust pathologist at CIMMYT in Ethiopia and co-author of the paper “MARPLE, a point-of-care, strain-level disease diagnostics and surveillance tool for complex fungal pathogens.” Read more here.

A researcher holds an element of the MARPLE Diagnostics kit. (Video: John Innes Centre)

Using the MARPLE kit to diagnose wheat rust in Ethiopia

Written by Marcia MacNeil on August 12, 2019. Posted in Videos. 6 Comments on Using the MARPLE kit to diagnose wheat rust in Ethiopia

MARPLE (Mobile and Real-time PLant disEase) Diagnostics is a revolutionary mobile lab developed by a team from the John Innes Centre (JIC), the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR). It uses nanopore sequence technology to rapidly diagnose and monitor wheat rust in farmers’ fields.

Designed to be used without constant electricity and in varying temperatures, the suitcase-sized lab allows researchers to identify wheat rust to strain level in just 48 hours — something that used to take months using other tools.

The MARPLE team was recognized as Innovator of the Year for international impact in 2019 by the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).

A new video from the John Innes Centre shows how the MARPLE Diagnostics kit will allow Ethiopia to quickly identify wheat rust strains, instead of sending samples to labs abroad.

Farmers harvest squash in Uttarakhand, India. (Photo: Jitendra Raj Bajracharya/ICIMOD)

New drought monitoring system will reduce climate risks for South Asian farmers

Written by Mike Listman on August 12, 2019. Posted in News. 1 Comment on New drought monitoring system will reduce climate risks for South Asian farmers

To mitigate the food security and economic risks of South Asia’s frequent and intense droughts, scientists and policymakers from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) recently joined forces to launch an innovative decision support and agricultural planning system that combines remote sensing and climate data analysis for drought monitoring and early warning.

The Regional Drought Monitoring and Outlook System application was unveiled during a workshop to train experts and policymakers in its use at relevant regional and national institutes in Islamabad, Pakistan, from July 29 to August 1, 2019. The Regional Drought Monitoring and Outlook System is the product of an ICIMOD-CIMMYT partnership through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) supported SERVIR Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) programme, in collaboration with Climate Service for Resilient Development (CSRD), led by ICIMOD and CIMMYT, respectively.

“Commonly associated with epic flooding, particularly in the enormous breadbasket region known as the Indo-Gangetic Plains that extends across Pakistan, India, southern Nepal, and Bangladesh, the region also faces droughts driven by rising temperatures and erratic rainfall and which threaten crops, food security, and livelihoods,” said Faisal Mueen Qamer, Remote Sensing Specialist of ICIMOD, which helped develop the system and organize the workshop.

“We expect the system to foster resilience in South Asian agriculture, while supporting future institutional frameworks and policies for farm compensation and adaptation, through decision makers’ access to timely and action-oriented information,” Qamar explained.

With a growing population of 1.6 billion people, South Asia hosts 40% of the world’s poor and malnourished on just 2.4% of its land. A 2010 study found a linear drop of 7.5% in rainfall in South Asia from 1900 to 2005.

“Shrinking glaciers, water scarcity, rising sea levels, shifting monsoon patterns, and heat waves place considerable stress on South Asian countries, whose primary employment sector remains agriculture,” said Mohammad Faisal, Director General for South Asia at Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during the workshop opening.

Media reports in early 2019 documented displacement and hunger from Pakistan’s worst drought in years.

Participants at the regional workshop on earth observation and climate data analysis for agriculture drought monitoring in South Asia. (Photo: ICIMOD)

Raising awareness about drought and its mitigation

Twenty-three participants from six South Asia countries plus five expert instructors attended the workshop, which offered presentations and hands-on training on a suite of applications and associated data analysis tools, including the South Asian Land Data Assimilation System (SALDAS), the Regional Drought Explorer, and the National Drought Early Warning System.

Muhammad Azeem Khan, Member of the Food Security & Climate Change at the Planning Commission of Pakistan, said the scale of present and future climate challenges is clearly evident.

“In Pakistan, we regularly see parts of the country in the grip of severe drought, while others have flash floods,” Khan commented during the workshop closing, while commending its organizers. “Frequent drought diminishes agricultural production and food security, especially for people in rural areas. Effectively managing the impacts of climate change requires a response that builds and sustains South Asia’s social, economic, and environmental resilience, as well as our emergency response capacity.”

Through CSRD, a global partnership that connects climate and environmental science with data streams to generate decision support tools and training for decision-makers in developing countries, CIMMYT helped extend the Regional Drought Monitoring and Outlook System to Bangladesh, from its original coverage of Afghanistan, Nepal, and Pakistan.

“Translating complex climate information into easy-to-understand and actionable formats is core to CSRD’s mission and helps spread awareness about climate challenges,” said Tim Krupnik, CIMMYT cropping systems agronomist based in Bangladesh. “This consortium provides strength and technical expertise to develop relevant climate products, including decision-support information for farmers and other stakeholders, thus fostering resilience to climate-related risks.”

Direct sowing of wheat seed into a recently-harvested rice field using the “Happy Seeder” implement, a cost-effective and eco-friendly alternative to burning rice straw, in northern India. (Photo: BISA/Love Kumar Singh)

Happy Seeder can reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions while making profits for farmers

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on August 8, 2019. Posted in Press releases. 2 Comments on Happy Seeder can reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions while making profits for farmers

A research paper published in the world’s leading scientific journal, Science Magazine, indicates that using the Happy Seeder agriculture technology to manage rice residue has the potential of generating 6,000-11,500 Indian rupees (about US$85-160) more profits per hectare for the average farmer. The Happy Seeder is a tractor-mounted machine that cuts and lifts rice straw, sows wheat into the soil, and deposits the straw over the sown area as mulch.

The paper “Fields on fire: Alternatives to crop residue burning in India” evaluates the public and private costs and benefits of ten alternate farming practices to manage rice residue, including burn and non-burn options. Happy Seeder-based systems emerge as the most profitable and scalable residue management practice as they are, on average, 10%–20% more profitable than burning. This option also has the largest potential to reduce the environmental footprint of on-farm activities, as it would eliminate air pollution and would reduce greenhouse gas emissions per hectare by more than 78%, relative to all burning options.

This research aims to make the business case for why farmers should adopt no-burn alternative farming practices, discusses barriers to their uptake and solutions to increase their widespread adoption. This work was jointly undertaken by 29 Indian and international researchers from The Nature Conservancy, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), the University of Minnesota, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) and other organizations.

Every year, some 23 million tonnes of rice residue is burnt in the states of Haryana, Punjab and Western Uttar Pradesh, contributing significantly to air pollution and short-lived climate pollutants. In Delhi NCR, about half the air pollution on some winter days can be attributed to agricultural fires, when air quality level is 20 times higher than the safe threshold defined by WHO. Residue burning has enormous impacts on human health, soil health, the economy and climate change.

The burning of crop residue, or stubble, across millions of hectares of cropland between planting seasons is a visible contributor to air pollution in both rural and urban areas. (Photo: Dakshinamurthy Vedachalam/CIMMYT)

“Despite its drawbacks, a key reason why burning continues in northwest India is the perception that profitable alternatives do not exist. Our analysis demonstrates that the Happy Seeder is a profitable solution that could be scaled up for adoption among the 2.5 million farmers involved in the rice-wheat cropping cycle in northwest India, thereby completely eliminating the need to burn. It can also lower agriculture’s contribution to India’s greenhouse gas emissions, while adding to the goal of doubling farmers income,” says Priya Shyamsundar, Lead Economist at The Nature Conservancy and one of the lead authors of the paper.

“Better practices can help farmers adapt to warmer winters and extreme, erratic weather events such as droughts and floods, which are having a terrible impact on agriculture and livelihoods. In addition, India’s efforts to transition to more sustainable, less polluting farming practices can provide lessons for other countries facing similar risks and challenges,” explains M.L. Jat, CIMMYT cropping systems specialist and a co-author of the study.

CIMMYT principal scientist M. L. Jat shows a model of a no-till planter that facilitates no-burn farming. (Photo: Dakshinamurthy Vedachalam/CIMMYT)

“Within one year of our dedicated action using about US$75 million under the Central Sector Scheme on ‘Promotion of agriculture mechanization for in-situ management of crop residue in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT of Delhi,’ we could reach 0.8 million hectares of adoption of Happy Seeder/zero tillage technology in the northwestern states of India,” said Trilochan Mohapatra, director general of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). “Considering the findings of the Science article as well as reports from thousands of participatory validation trials, our efforts have resulted in an additional direct farmer benefit of US$131 million, compared to a burning option,” explained Mohapatra, who is also secretary of India’s Department of Agricultural Research and Education.

The Government of India subsidy in 2018 for onsite rice residue management has partly addressed a major financial barrier for farmers, which has resulted in an increase in Happy Seeder use. However, other barriers still exist, such as lack of knowledge of profitable no-burn solutions and impacts of burning, uncertainty about new technologies and burning ban implementation, and constraints in the supply-chain and rental markets. The paper states that NGOs, research organizations and universities can support the government in addressing these barriers through farmer communication campaigns, social nudging through trusted networks and demonstration and training. The private sector also has a critical role to play in increasing manufacturing and machinery rentals.

Read the full study

This research was supported by the Susan and Craig McCaw Foundation, the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota, the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat (WHEAT), and the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). The Happy Seeder was originally developed through a project from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).

For more information, or to arrange interviews with the researchers, please contact:

Rodrigo Ordóñez, Communications Manager, CIMMYT
r.ordonez@cgiar.org, +52 (55) 5804 2004 ext. 1167

Sonali Nandrajog, Communications Consultant, The Nature Conservancy – India
sonalinandrajog@gmail.com, +98 9871948044

Spokespersons:

M.L. Jat, Cropping Systems Agronomist, CIMMYT, India
M.Jat@cgiar.org

Priya Shyamsundar, Lead Economist, The Nature Conservancy
priya.shyamsundar@tnc.org

Seema Paul, Managing Director, The Nature Conservancy – India
seema.paul@tnc.org

About CIMMYT

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is the global leader in publicly-funded maize and wheat research and related farming systems. Headquartered near Mexico City, CIMMYT works with hundreds of partners throughout the developing world to sustainably increase the productivity of maize and wheat cropping systems, thus improving global food security and reducing poverty. CIMMYT is a member of the CGIAR System and leads the CGIAR Research Programs on Maize and Wheat, and the Excellence in Breeding Platform. The Center receives support from national governments, foundations, development banks and other public and private agencies.

About The Nature Conservancy – India

We are a science-led global conservation organisation that works to protect ecologically important lands and water for nature and people. We have been working in India since 2015 to support India’s efforts to “develop without destruction”. We work closely with the Indian government, research institutions, NGOs, private sector organisations and local communities to develop science-based, on-the-ground, scalable solutions for some of the country’s most pressing environmental challenges. Our projects are aligned with India’s national priorities of conserving rivers and wetlands, address air pollution from crop residue burning, sustainable advancing renewable energy and reforestation goals, and building health, sustainable and smart cities.

View from the experimental station in Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, northern Mexico. (Photo: M. Ellis/CIMMYT)

Warmer night temperatures reduce wheat yields in Mexico, scientists say

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on August 8, 2019. Posted in Features.

As many regions worldwide baked under some of the most persistent heatwaves on record, scientists at a major conference in Canada shared data on the impact of spiraling temperatures on wheat.

In the Sonora desert in northwestern Mexico, nighttime temperatures varied 4.4 degrees Celsius between 1981 and 2018, research from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) shows. Across the world in Siberia, nighttime temperatures rose 2 degrees Celsius between 1988 and 2015, according to Vladimir Shamanin, a professor at Russia’s Omsk State Agrarian University who conducts research with the Kazakhstan-Siberia Network on Spring Wheat Improvement.

“Although field trials across some of the hottest wheat growing environments worldwide have demonstrated that yield losses are in general associated with an increase in average temperatures, minimum temperatures at night — not maximum temperatures — are actually determining the yield loss,” said Gemma Molero, the wheat physiologist at CIMMYT who conducted the research in Sonora, in collaboration with colleague Ivan Ortiz-Monasterio.

“Of the water taken up by the roots, 95% is lost from leaves via transpiration and from this, an average of 12% of the water is lost during the night. One focus of genetic improvement for yield and water-use efficiency for the plant should be to identify traits for adaptation to higher night temperatures,” Molero said, adding that nocturnal transpiration may lead to reductions of up to 50% of available soil moisture in some regions.

Wheat fields at CIMMYT's experimental station near Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Mexico. (Photo: M. Ellis/CIMMYT) — Wheat fields at CIMMYT’s experimental station near Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Mexico. (Photo: M. Ellis/CIMMYT)

Climate challenge

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported in October that temperatures may become an average of 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer in the next 11 years. A new IPCC analysis on climate change and land use due for release this week, urges a shift toward reducing meat in diets to help reduce agriculture-related emissions from livestock. Diets could be built around coarse grains, pulses, nuts and seeds instead.

Scientists attending the International Wheat Congress in Saskatoon, the city at the heart of Canada’s western wheat growing province of Saskatchewan, agreed that a major challenge is to develop more nutritious wheat varieties that can produce bigger yields in hotter temperatures.

CIMMYT wheat physiologist Gemma Molero presents at the International Wheat Congress. (Photo: Marcia MacNeil/CIMMYT)

As a staple crop, wheat provides 20% of all human calories consumed worldwide. It is the main source of protein for 2.5 billion people in the Global South. Crop system modeler Senthold Asseng, a professor at the University of Florida and a member of the International Wheat Yield Partnership, was involved in an extensive study in China, India, France, Russia and the United States, which demonstrated that for each degree Celsius in temperature increase, yields decline by 6%, putting food security at risk.

Wheat yields in South Asia could be cut in half due to chronically high temperatures, Molero said. Research conducted by the University of New South Wales, published in Environmental Research Letters also demonstrates that changes in climate accounted for 20 to 49% of yield fluctuations in various crops, including spring wheat. Hot and cold temperature extremes, drought and heavy precipitation accounted for 18 to 4% of the variations.

At CIMMYT, wheat breeders advocate a comprehensive approach that combines conventional, physiological and molecular breeding techniques, as well as good crop management practices that can ameliorate heat shocks. New breeding technologies are making use of wheat landraces and wild grass relatives to add stress adaptive traits into modern wheat – innovative approaches that have led to new heat tolerant varieties being grown by farmers in warmer regions of Pakistan, for example.

More than 800 global experts gathered at the first International Wheat Congress in Saskatoon, Canada, to strategize on ways to meet projected nutritional needs of 60% more people by 2050. (Photo: Matthew Hayes/Cornell University)

Collaborative effort

Matthew Reynolds, a distinguished scientist at CIMMYT, is joint founder of the Heat and Drought Wheat Improvement Consortium (HeDWIC), a coalition of hundreds of scientists and stakeholders from over 30 countries.

“HeDWIC is a pre-breeding program that aims to deliver genetically diverse advanced lines through use of shared germplasm and other technologies,” Reynolds said in Saskatoon. “It’s a knowledge-sharing and training mechanism, and a platform to deliver proofs of concept related to new technologies for adapting wheat to a range of heat and drought stress profiles.”

Aims include reaching agreement across borders and institutions on the most promising research areas to achieve climate resilience, arranging trait research into a rational framework, facilitating translational research and developing a bioinformatics cyber-infrastructure, he said, adding that attracting multi-year funding for international collaborations remains a challenge.

Nitrogen traits

Another area of climate research at CIMMYT involves the development of an affordable alternative to the use of nitrogen fertilizers to reduce planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions. In certain plants, a trait known as biological nitrification inhibition (BNI) allows them to suppress the loss of nitrogen from the soil, improving the efficiency of nitrogen uptake and use by themselves and other plants.

CIMMYT's director general Martin Kropff speaks at a session of the International Wheat Congress. (Photo: Matthew Hayes/Cornell University) — CIMMYT’s director general Martin Kropff speaks at a session of the International Wheat Congress. (Photo: Matthew Hayes/Cornell University)

Scientists with the BNI research consortium, which includes Japan’s International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS), propose transferring the BNI trait from those plants to critical food and feed crops, such as wheat, sorghum and Brachiaria range grasses.

“Every year, nearly a fifth of the world’s fertilizer is used to grow wheat, yet the crop only uses about 30% of the nitrogen applied, in terms of biomass and harvested grains,” said Victor Kommerell, program manager for the multi-partner CGIAR Research Programs (CRP) on Wheat and Maize led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center.

“BNI has the potential to turn wheat into a highly nitrogen-efficient crop: farmers could save money on fertilizers, and nitrous oxide emissions from wheat farming could be reduced by 30%.”

Excluding changes in land use such as deforestation, annual greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture each year are equivalent to 11% of all emissions from human activities. About 70% of nitrogen applied to crops in fertilizers is either washed away or becomes nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide, according to Guntur Subbarao, a principal scientist with JIRCAS.

Hans-Joachim Braun,
Director of CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program and the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat, speaks at the International Wheat Congress. (Photo: Marcia MacNeil/CIMMYT)

Although ruminant livestock are responsible for generating roughly half of all agricultural production emissions, BNI offers potential for reducing overall emissions, said Tim Searchinger, senior fellow at the World Resources Institute and technical director of a new report titled “Creating a Sustainable Food Future: A Menu of Solutions to Feed Nearly 10 Billion People by 2050.”

To exploit this roots-based characteristic, breeders would have to breed this trait into plants, said Searchinger, who presented key findings of the report in Saskatoon, adding that governments and research agencies should increase research funding.

Other climate change mitigation efforts must include revitalizing degraded soils, which affect about a quarter of the planet’s cropland, to help boost crop yields. Conservation agriculture techniques involve retaining crop residues on fields instead of burning and clearing. Direct seeding into soil-with-residue and agroforestry also can play a key role.

Local irrigation service providers in southern Bangladesh demonstrate the use of a two-wheeled tractor to power an axial flow pump to provide fuel-efficient surface water irrigation. (Photo: Tim Krupnik/CIMMYT)

New publications: A study of water markets in Bangladesh

Written by Emma Orchardson on July 30, 2019. Posted in Publications. 3 Comments on New publications: A study of water markets in Bangladesh

Domestic rice and wheat production in Bangladesh has more than doubled in the last 30 years, despite declining per capita arable land. The fact that the country is now almost self-sufficient in staple food production is due in large part to successful and rapid adoption of modern, high-yielding crop varieties. This has been widely documented, but less attention has been paid to the contribution of small-scale irrigation systems, whose proliferation has enabled double rice cropping and a competitive market system in which farmers can purchase irrigation services from private pump owners at affordable rates.

However, excess groundwater abstraction in areas of high shallow tube-well density and increased fuel costs for pumping have called into question the sustainability of Bangladesh’s groundwater irrigation economy. Cost-saving agronomic methods are called for, alongside aligned policies, markets, and farmers’ incentives.

A recent study by researchers at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) examines the different institutions and water-pricing methods for irrigation services that have emerged in Bangladesh, each of which varies in their incentive structure for water conservation, and the level of economic risk involved for farmers and service providers.

Using primary data collected from 139 irrigation service providers and 556 client-farmers, the authors assessed the structure of irrigation service types as well as the associated market and institutional dimensions. They found that competition between pump owners, social capital, and social relationship between of pump owners and client farmers, significantly influence the structure of irrigation services and irrigation water pricing methods. Greater competition between pump owners, for instance, increases the likelihood of pay-per-hour services while reducing that of crop sharing arrangements.

Based on these and other findings, authors made policy recommendations for enhancing irrigation services and sustainability in Bangladesh. As Bangladesh is already highly successful in terms of the conventional irrigation system, the authors urge taking it to the next level for sustainability and efficiency.

Currently Bangladesh’s irrigation system is based on centrifugal pumps and diesel engines. The authors suggest scaling out the energy efficient axial flow pump, and the alternate wetting and drying system for water conservation and irrigation efficiency. They also recommend further investment in rural electrification to facilitate the use of electric motors, which can reduce air pollution by curbing dependency on diesel engines.

Read the full article:
“Understanding clients, providers and the institutional dimensions of irrigation services in developing countries: A study of water markets in Bangladesh” in Agricultural Water Management, Volume 222, 1 August 2019, pages 242-253.

This study was made possible through the support provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA). Additional support was provided by the CGIAR Research Programs on Maize (MAIZE) and Wheat (WHEAT).

Read more recent publications by CIMMYT researchers:

A spatial framework for ex-ante impact assessment of agricultural technologies. 2019. Andrade, J.F., Rattalino Edreira, J.I., Farrow, A., Loon, M.P. van., Craufurd, P., Rurinda, J., Shamie Zingore, Chamberlin, J., Claessens, L., Adewopo, J., Ittersum, M.K. van, Cassman, K.G., Grassini, P. In: Global Food Security v. 20, p. 72-81.
Assessing genetic diversity to breed competitive biofortified wheat with enhanced grain ZN and FE concentrations. 2019. Velu, G., Crespo-Herrera, L.A., Guzman, C., Huerta-Espino, J., Payne, T.S., Singh, R.P. In: Frontiers in Plant Science v. 9, art. 1971.
Genome-wide association mapping and genomic prediction analyses reveal the genetic architecture of grain yield and flowering time under drought and heat stress conditions in maize. 2019. Yibing Yuan, Cairns, J.E., Babu, R., Gowda, M., Makumbi, D., Magorokosho, C., Ao Zhang, Yubo Liu, Nan Wang, Zhuanfang Hao, San Vicente, F.M., Olsen, M., Prasanna, B.M., Yanli Lu, Zhang, X. In: Plant Breeding v. 9, art. 1919.
Diversifying conservation agriculture and conventional tillage cropping systems to improve the wellbeing of smallholder farmers in Malawi. 2019. TerAvest, D., Wandschneider, P.R., Thierfelder, C., Reganold, J.P. In: Agricultural Systems v. 171, p. 23-35.
Biofortified maize can improve quality protein intakes among young children in southern Ethiopia. 2019. Gunaratna, N.S., Moges, D., De Groote, H. Nutrients v. 11, no. 1, art. 192.

A researcher uses a vertical probe to measure moisture at different soil depths. (Photo: CIMMYT)

New manual provides quantitative approach to drought stress phenotyping

Written by Carolyn Cowan on July 22, 2019. Posted in News.

Since 1900, more than two billion people have been affected by drought worldwide, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Drought affects crops by limiting the amount of water available for optimal growth and development, thereby lowering productivity. It is one of the major abiotic stresses responsible for variability in crop yield, driving significant economic, environmental and social impacts.

A new technical manual, “Management of drought stress in field phenotyping,” provides a quantitative approach to drought stress phenotyping in crops. Phenotyping is a procedure vital to the success of crop breeding programs that involves physical assessment of plants for desired traits.

The manual provides guidance for crop breeders, crop physiologists, agronomists, students and field technicians who are working on improving crop tolerance to drought stress. It will help ensure drought screening trials yield accurate and precise data for use by breeding programs.

A sprinkler system irrigates a drought phenotyping trial field in Hyderabad, India. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Based on decades of CIMMYT’s research and experience, the manual covers aspects related to field site selection, effects of weather, crop management, maintaining uniform stress in trials, and duration of stress. It focuses on an approach that standardizes the required intensity, timing and uniformity of imposed drought stress during field trials.

Such a rigorous and accurate approach to drought screening allows for precision phenotyping. Careful management of imposed drought stress also allows the full variability in a population’s genotype to be expressed and identified during phenotyping, which means the full potential of the drought tolerance trait can be harnessed.

Variability among maize genotypes for agronomic and yield traits under managed drought stress. (Photo: CIMMYT)

“Crop breeding programs using conventional or molecular breeding approaches to develop crops with drought tolerance rely heavily on high-quality phenotypic data generated from drought screening trials,” said author and CIMMYT scientist P.H. Zaidi. “By following the guidance in this manual, users can maximize their quality standards.”

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) has been a pioneer in developing and deploying protocols for drought stress phenotyping, selection strategy and breeding for drought tolerance. CIMMYT’s research on drought stress in maize began in the 1970s and has since remained a top priority for the organization. Drought-tolerant maize is now one of CIMMYT’s flagship products and is a key component of CIMMYT’s portfolio of products aimed to cope with the effects of climate change in the tropics.

Read the manual:
Pervez H. Zaidi, 2019. Management of drought stress in field phenotyping. CIMMYT, Mexico.

The information presented in the manual is based on the work on quantitative management of drought stress phenotyping under field conditions that received strong and consistent support from several donor agencies, especially Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Germany’s GIZ and the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE). The manual itself was funded by the CGIAR Excellence in Breeding (EiB) platform.

A woman operates a precision spreader during a demonstration for a farmer group in Guleriya MCP, Bardiya, in coordination with the Suahaara nutrition project. (Photo: Salin Acharya/CIMMYT)

Precision spreader for fertilizer set to change the agriculture scene in Nepal

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on July 19, 2019. Posted in News.

A man demonstrates the precision spreader to farmers in Bardiya, Nepal, in collaboration with the Janaekata cooperative and the local government. (Photo: Hari Prasad Acharya/CIMMYT)

Smallholder farmers in Nepal tend to apply fertilizer by hand, spreading it as they walk through the field. Under this practice, fertilizer is dispersed randomly and is therefore unevenly distributed among all the seedlings. A recently introduced method, however, helps farmers spread fertilizer in a more uniform, faster and easier way.

The precision spreader is a hand-operated device that ensures an even distribution of fertilizer and is easy to operate. This technology is endorsed by the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), a project led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) which helps Nepalese farmers adapt measures that are efficient, effective and resilient to the impacts of climate change.

In addition to more consistent distribution, the precision spreader regulates the exact amount of fertilizer required and helps the farmer cover a considerable area with limited movement. This technology has been proven to require less time and effort than the traditional method of broadcasting by hand.

Considering the potential benefits, the CSISA team introduced farmers in Nepal to the precision spreader through training sessions followed by demonstrations of its use. They took place in wheat fields in Bansgadhi, Barbardiya and Duduwa, in Lumbini province, in collaboration with multipurpose cooperative Janaekata and the local governments. Through these sessions, conducted in 45 different sites, more than 650 farmers had a chance to familiarize themselves with the precision spreader, and most of them took a keen interest in incorporating the device into their cropping management practices.

Perhaps the most prominent reason why the precision spreader sparked such interest is that women can easily use it. Most men in rural areas have migrated to the city or abroad in hopes of higher income, so work in the fields has been inadvertently transferred to women. Since Nepal is a predominantly conservative patriarchal society, women have not yet become comfortable and familiarized with all farming practices, especially operating heavy agricultural machinery. However, as expressed by women themselves, the precision spreader is highly convenient to use. Its use could help ease women into the agriculture scene of Nepal and consequently reduce farming drudgery.

Healthier crops, healthier people

Nestled between China and India, Nepal predominantly relies on agriculture for employment. With the majority of its population engaged in the agricultural sector, the country still struggles to produce an adequate food supply for its people, resulting in depressed rural economies, increased malnutrition and widespread hunger.

Sustainable intensification, therefore, is necessary to increase the overall yield and to accelerate agricultural development.

Better distribution of fertilizer in the fields results in a higher chance of healthier crops, which are the source of better nutrition.

A wider use of a seemingly small technology like the precision spreader would not only reduce hardships in farming, but it would also help farmers become more resilient towards the natural and economic adversities they face.

The Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) is a regional project in Bangladesh, India and Nepal that was established in 2009 with the goal of benefiting more than 8 million farmers by the end of 2020. Funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, CSISA is led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and implemented jointly with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).

Farmers in Katitu, Machakos County, evaluate maize varieties at a trial plot. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

What farmers want

Written by Jérôme Bossuet on July 19, 2019. Posted in Features.

Tabitha Kamau, 29, is scrutinizing a maize demonstration plot on which 12 different varieties were planted in November 2018. “What I am looking for is a maize variety that produces a lot, even when there is scarce rainfall,” says the single mother of three, who lives in Katheini, in Kenya’s Machakos County, on a quarter of an acre of land.

Together with 350 other smallholder farmers from Katheini and neighboring villages, Kamau is assessing the maize crops and ranking them based on her preferred traits.

Like her peers when asked what makes a good maize variety, she gives high scores to drought-tolerant varieties and those that can yield large and nicely filled cobs despite the dry spell that has affected the area over the last two months.

For five years, Kamau has been planting KDV4, a drought-tolerant open pollinated variety on the family land and another piece of leased plot. This early variety matures in 100 to 110 days and is adapted to dry mid-altitude conditions.

Tabitha Kamau examines drought-tolerant KDV4 maize in her plot in the village of Kavilinguni, Machakos County, Kenya. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

KDV4 was released by the Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) using the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)’s germplasm. It is currently marketed by Dryland Seed Limited and Freshco Seeds, targeting farmers in the water-stressed counties of Kitui, Machakos and Makueni, in the lower eastern regions of Kenya.

The early maturing of varieties like KDV4 presents a good opportunity for its adopters, says Kamau. “If I am able to harvest in three and a half months or less, compared to four months or more for other varieties, I can sell some grain to neighbors still awaiting their harvest who want to feed their families.”

“I heard of new varieties that can germinate well and produce lots of leaves,” explains Catherine Musembi. This farmer from Kivaani looks for maize that performs well even under heat and drought. She likes maize plants with high biomass, as the foliage is used to feed the family’s three cows and two goats.

An enumerator (left) collects a farmer’s details and socioeconomic data before she participates in the evaluation of maize varieties. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

Farmers’ picks

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) has been undertaking participatory maize variety evaluations since 2016 in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. Every year, during the main maize growing season, researchers plant on-farm trials that can be evaluated by farmers.

Kamau and Musembi attended a selection trial in Machakos County, facilitated by a team from KALRO on February 18-19, 2019. This exercise was part of the 2018 mid-season evaluations, which were followed up by end-season assessments a month later.

Participatory farmer evaluations are used to give crucial feedback to CIMMYT’s maize breeding work. First, farmers get an opportunity to state what traits are important for them and rank them according to their importance. Then, participants evaluate varieties planted in the trial and give a score on individual trait and the overall performance for each variety planted. And they conclude the exercise by rating the best three plots.

In the drier eastern part of Kenya, farmers might be more interested in traits such as drought tolerance, early maturity and disease resistance. In central Kenya, where dairy farming is commonly practiced, a variety with more biomass could be preferred.

“Our work is to tease out the information regarding which traits contribute to a good score in the overall score,” explains Bernard Munyua, a socioeconomics research assistant at CIMMYT. Statistical analysis of the farmers’ score cards will reveal if the initial rating of criteria plays a strong role in the final overall appreciation of a variety. For instance, farmers may give high importance to height or biomass, yet it may not play a role in their ranking of best varieties.

“Such data is important for maize breeders to support future variety improvement work,” Munyua notes. “Moreover, by disaggregating the farmers opinions by region and socioeconomic attributes such as gender, education and income, we can define the priority traits by region or farmers’ socioeconomic profiles. It helps better target maize breeding work according to the needs on the ground and gives useful knowledge to seed companies for their seed marketing strategy,” he adds.

For instance, in the drier eastern part of Kenya, farmers might be more interested in traits such as drought tolerance, early maturity and disease resistance. In central Kenya, where dairy farming is commonly practiced, a variety with more biomass could be preferred. In western Kenya, they could be more interested in grain yields and cob characteristics to improve their sales after harvest.

Agnes Nthambi (left) and other farmers evaluate maize varieties developed through CIMMYT’s Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) project. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

Agnes Nthambi, the farmer who hosted the demonstration plot, is very positive about her participation, as she learned about some of the ideal agronomic practices as well as the performance of new varieties. “On this trial, I learned that spacing was about two times shorter than we are generally used to. Even with the more constricted spacing, the maize has performed much better than what we are used to seeing,” she says. She also learned that fertilizer is applied at the time of planting. In her case, she normally applies fertilizer much later after germination has already occurred.

Nthambi says her family cannot afford losing both the fertilizer and the seed in case the rains fail. This time, she expects a good harvest from the one-acre farm, to supplement her family’s income.

Technical assistant Tigist Masresra examines breeding trials at the Ambo Research Center in Ethiopia. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)

More with less: Research for intensified food production with scarcer resources and heating climates

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on July 18, 2019. Posted in Director General's corner.

After declining for nearly a decade to around 770 million, in the last three years the number of hungry people has shot up to more than 850 million. At the same time, erratic weather and crop pests and diseases are ruining harvests, intensifying farmers’ risks, and threatening local and global food security.

In an article for Rural 21, I describe how plant breeding has changed over the last four decades and which methods the international research community is developing to master present and future challenges.

Read the full article

Morning dew on a wheat spike. (Photo: Vadim Ganeyev/CIMMYT)

Top scientists from CGIAR to present latest research at International Wheat Congress in Canada

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on July 17, 2019. Posted in Press releases.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SASKATOON, Canada (CIMMYT) — Amid global efforts to intensify the nutritional value and scale of wheat production, scientists from all major wheat growing regions in the world will gather from July 21 to 26, 2019 at the International Wheat Congress in Saskatoon, the city at the heart of Canada’s western wheat growing province, Saskatchewan. The CGIAR Research Program on Wheat (WHEAT), led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), is a founding member of the G20 Wheat Initiative, a co-host of the conference.

Wheat provides 20% of all human calories consumed worldwide. In the Global South, it is the main source of protein and a critical source of life for 2.5 billion people who live on less than $2 (C$2.60) a day.

In spite of its key role in combating hunger and malnutrition, the major staple grain faces threats from climate change, variable weather, disease, predators and many other challenges. Wheat’s vital contribution to the human diet and farmer livelihoods makes it central to conversations about the rural environment, agricultural biodiversity and global food security.

More than 800 delegates, including researchers from the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat, CIMMYT, the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), the International Wheat Yield Partnership (IWYP), Cornell University’s Delivering Genetic Gain in Wheat project (DGGW), the University of Saskatchewan and many other organizations worldwide will discuss the latest research on wheat germplasm.

“We must solve a complex puzzle,” said Martin Kropff, CIMMYT’s director general. “Wheat must feed more people while growing sustainably on less land. Wheat demand is predicted to increase 60% in the next three decades, while climate change is putting an unprecedented strain on production.”

“The scientific community is tackling this challenge head-on, through global collaboration, germplasm exchange and innovative approaches. Researchers are looking at wheat’s temperature response mechanisms and using remote sensing, genomics, bio-informatics and other technologies to make wheat more tolerant to heat and drought,” Kropff said.

The congress is the first major gathering of the wheat community since the 2015 International Wheat Conference in Sydney, Australia.

CGIAR and CIMMYT scientists will share the latest findings on:

State-of-the-art approaches for measuring traits to speed breeding for heat and drought tolerance
Breeding durum (pasta) wheat for traits for use in bread products
New sources of diversity — including ancient wheat relatives — to create aphid-resistant wheat and other improved varieties
DNA fingerprinting to help national partners identify gaps in improved variety adoption

For more details on schedule and scientists’ presentations, click here.

Research shows that more than 60% of wheat varietal releases since 1994 were CGIAR-related.

Low- and middle-income countries are the primary focus and biggest beneficiaries of CGIAR wheat research, but high-income countries reap substantial rewards as well. In Canada, three-quarters of the wheat area is sown to CGIAR-related cultivars and in the United States almost 60% of the wheat area was sown to CGIAR-related varieties, according to the research.

WHEN

July 21-26, 2019

The opening ceremony and lectures will take place on
Monday, July 22, 2019 from 08:50 to 10:50 a.m.

WHERE

TCU Place
35 22nd Street East,
Saskatoon, SK S7K 0C8, Canada
https://g.page/TCUPlace

CONTACTS

For further information, or to arrange interviews, please contact:

Marcia MacNeil: m.macneil@cgiar.org

Julie Mollins: j.mollins@cgiar.org

About CGIAR

CGIAR is a global research partnership for a food secure future dedicated to reducing poverty, enhancing food and nutrition security, and improving natural resources.

About the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat

Joining advanced science with field-level research and extension in lower- and middle-income countries, the Agri-Food Systems CGIAR Research Program on Wheat (WHEAT) works with public and private organizations worldwide to raise the productivity, production and affordable availability of wheat for 2.5 billion resource-poor producers and consumers who depend on the crop as a staple food. WHEAT is led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), with the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) as a primary research partner. Funding for WHEAT comes from CGIAR and national governments, foundations, development banks and other public and private agencies, in particular the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). www.wheat.org

About CIMMYT

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is the global leader in publicly funded maize and wheat research and related farming systems. Headquartered near Mexico City, CIMMYT works with hundreds of partners throughout the developing world to sustainably increase the productivity of maize and wheat cropping systems, thus improving global food security and reducing poverty. CIMMYT is a member of CGIAR and leads the CGIAR Research Programs on Maize and Wheat, and the Excellence in Breeding Platform. The center receives support from national governments, foundations, development banks and other public and private agencies.