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.

Taking maize agronomy to scale in Africa Q&A

Written by Jérôme Bossuet on April 29, 2019. Posted in News.

Testing SeedAssure, a decision support tool, on a tablet in the field. (Photo: Jerome Bossuet)

Should we reinvent the way we advise African smallholder farmers?

Development organization professionals from the agriculture, health, education, conservation and humanitarian sectors will gather from April 30 to May 2, 2019 in Kampala, Uganda for the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for Development ICT4D conference organized by Catholic Relief Services. The aim of this conference is to explore which digital innovations could accelerate progress towards meeting the Sustainable Development Goals. Jens Andersson, a social scientist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), will speak on how we could reinvent advisory services for African smallholder farmers, such as through decision support tools. The following interview reflects his thoughts on the issue.

Q: Some experts say that current agronomic research does not properly advise smallholder farmers. Farmers are given blanket recommendations on key subjects such as crop varieties, fertilizer use and seed spacing. Why do you think that we need to reinvent advisory services?

A: Smallholder farmers with limited resources often can’t afford fertilizer and seed. They also don’t reach agronomic management levels assumed by the blanket recommendations given by agricultural extension services. They may not have enough cash to invest, enough labor to carry out tasks – such as weeding – as frequently as recommended, or they may not prioritize crop production as a part of their livelihood. Consequently, input investments and agronomic management vary considerably from field to field and so does the fertility of those fields. Standard advice simply is not enough, given the diversity of farmers’ situations.

The challenge is to identify the key factors shaping maize yields in farmers’ fields and to identify how a farmer could more efficiently use his or her available inputs and available labor. It is not about telling farmers what to do, but about providing options that suit each farmer’s situation. Technologies such as remote sensing and ICTs can help tremendously in data collection for assessing the conditions of farmers’ fields and better tailoring agronomic advice to their specific situation.

Q: Since 2015, CIMMYT has been working with research, extension and development partners in Nigeria, Ethiopia and Tanzania to develop strategies to Take Maize Agronomy to Scale in Africa (TAMASA). Can you explain the overall approach on how to scale advice to farmers?

A: With ICTs, we can now link and integrate very diverse types of geospatial data, such as soil data, climate and weather data, as well as socio-economic data such as market prices and population densities. Mobile internet and GPS enable us to have such data available for any location. When combined with information obtained from farmers about their field conditions and preferences, agronomic advice can become location-specific.

This approach requires that agronomic data be collected in a geospatial manner. Therefore, TAMASA has conducted numerous agronomic experiments across agricultural landscapes in major maize growing areas in Nigeria, Ethiopia and Tanzania to establish a geographical distribution of soil nutrient availability and fertilizer responses. Such information can be used to model crop responses to fertilizer, and — when combined with fertilizer and crop price information — can provide nutrient recommendations for an individual field through an ex-ante spatial assessment framework. With this approach, extension providers can improve fertilizer recommendations, increasing farmers’ fertilizer use efficiency, productivity and profitability.

For example, in a trial conducted with 435 farmers in Nigeria, using the decision support tool Nutrient Expert resulted in farmers investing more in inputs and agronomic management and doubling their maize yields from 2 to 4 tons per hectare on average.

Q: What digital innovations do you want to showcase at the ICT4D conference? Which type of users are you targeting?

A: Providing location- or field-specific advice at scale requires understanding what information farmers need and what extension services they use. This is probably best illustrated with the example of the Maize-Variety-Selector (MVS) – a mobile phone application developed by TAMASA. Using climate data, information on the growth characteristics of specific maize varieties and multilocational agronomic trials, this application can advise on the most suitable maize varieties for a particular location and for a preferred planting and harvesting date. The application provides options tailored to farmers’ preferences and farming conditions.

Yet, such advice is of limited value in situations where the advised crop varieties are not available in local agro-dealer shops, or when farmers can’t be sure they are actually buying the variety of their choice due to poor packaging and labeling practices, as is sometimes the case in Nigeria.

In addition, government extension services in sub-Saharan Africa are overburdened and not capable of reaching many individual farmers: there is usually only one extension worker for every 2,500 farmers or more.

To improve extension outreach in Western Kenya, TAMASA developed a plant density and seed requirement mobile phone application – Maize-Seed-Area (MSA) – in consultation with both extension workers and agro-dealers. Using this application, extension workers reported they could now provide information on specific maize varieties because the application has a built-in database of available maize varieties.

The Maize-Seed-Area (MSA) mobile phone application.

Experiences of agro-dealers were different, as some found that their customers had made up their minds about what variety to buy before entering an agro-dealer shop. Agro-dealers reported that their customers particularly liked the seed requirement calculator, which provides immediate advice on how much seed to buy of a particular variety. In a phone survey, farmers indicated that they trusted the agro-dealers’ advice when it was provided by the mobile phone application.

Q: TAMASA has been exploring the use of decision support tools for large-scale agronomic investments such as country-wide fertilizer subsidy programs. Could you explain your approach to this issue and its potential applications?

A: Some regional soil fertility programs and African governments aim to improve farmers’ yields and incomes through costly, large-scale distribution of fertilizers or soil inputs. Generating more site-specific agronomic recommendations at scale and taking into account the spatial diversity of a landscape, market prices and other supply chain elements will optimize the impact of such operations.

TAMASA has integrated various geospatial datasets such as the ISRIC World Soil Information’s SoilGrids, the World Bank’s Living Standards Measurement Study agriculture dataset (LSMS-ISA), and the Global Yield Gap Atlas. Thanks to the ex-ante spatial assessment framework, we can better target future areas of intervention that currently have low maize yields but could potentially have profitable fertilizer usage.

Mapping predictive yield response and profitability can give us precious insights. For instance, many Ethiopian farmers face acid soils, and the government and development agencies have been thinking about lime distribution at scale to combat this issue. We could potentially create a lime dashboard by adapting the ex-ante spatial framework and provide key information to policymakers at the local and national level.

Q: Are you looking for potential partners at the ICT4D conference to help scale up this work?

A: At the ICT4D conference, we are looking forward to teaming up with new development partners, seed producers and governments to make these field- and farmer-specific advisory applications and decision support tools for agronomic investments more widely available to African smallholder maize farmers.

Farmers in Bangladesh practice traditional puddling of the soil before transplanting rice. (Photo: P. Wall/CIMMYT)

New publications: Small businesses, potentially large impacts

Written by Emma Orchardson on April 25, 2019. Posted in Publications.

A recent study by socioeconomists at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Bangladesh examined the role of fertilizer traders in influencing farmer decision-making on which fertilizer to apply and at what rate.

In developing countries, the emerging private sector is gradually filling the gap between supply and demand of agricultural extension services. In Bangladesh, most farmers still rely on either their own experience or that of their peers, but increasingly seek suggestions from traders when deciding on the amount and dose of fertilizer to be applied, due to the constraints associated with public agricultural extension services. These private fertilizer traders are increasingly prominent as information sources in the more accessible, intensive and commercially-oriented boro rice production systems.

Using primary data collected from 556 randomly selected farm households in Bangladesh, the study examined farmers’ chemical fertilizer use and the associated rice production efficiency based on different information sources that farmers rely on, such as fertilizer traders, government extension agents, and personal experience.

The research show that farmers who relied on traders statistically had a higher production efficiency than those who did not. These results suggest that fertilizer traders are in fact supplementing government agricultural extension activities by providing useful information which supports resource-poor farmers to mitigate market failures and achieve higher production efficiency.

Read the full article “Small businesses, potentially large impacts: the role of fertilizer traders as agricultural extension agents in Bangladesh” in the Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies.

This study was supported by USAID through the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia – Mechanization and Irrigation (CSISA-MI) project, as well as USAID and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation through the second phase of the CSISA project.

Read more recent publications by CIMMYT researchers:

Ten years of conservation agriculture in a rice–maize rotation of Eastern Gangetic Plains of India: yield trends, water productivity and economic profitability. 2019. Jat, R.K., Ravi Gopal Singh, Kumar, M., Jat, M.L., Parihar, C.M., Bijarniya, D., Sutaliya, J.M., Jat, M.K., Parihar M.D., Kakraliya Suresh Kumar, Gupta, R.K. In: Field Crops Research v. 232, p. 1-10.
Exploiting genotype x environment x management interactions to enhance maize productivity in Ethiopia. 2019. Seyoum, S., Rachaputi, R., Fekybelu, S., Chauhan, Y., Prasanna, B.M. In: European Journal of Agronomy v. 103, p. 165-174.
Yield response to plant density, row spacing and raised beds in low latitude spring wheat with ample soil resources: an update. 2019. Fischer, R.A., Moreno Ramos, O.H., Ortiz-Monasterio, I., Sayre, K.D. In: Field Crops Research v. 232, p. 95-105.

Research busts common myths about agricultural labor in Africa, suggests a shift in mechanization policy

Written by Matthew O'Leary on April 24, 2019. Posted in Features.

New farm-level research into agricultural labor in eastern and southern Africa found that a lack of farm power is costing smallholders in productivity, demonstrating a far higher demand for mechanization than commonly thought.

The study identified African farming households are far more dependent on labor markets than previously assumed, and thus far more inclined to hire mechanization services. The findings call on governments in the region to create an enabling environment to promote appropriate mechanization for small-scale farmers, said lead researcher Frédéric Baudron, systems agronomist with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

“The high number of households already hiring farm power challenges common myths that suggest smallholder farms depends almost entirely on labor as it’s provided by family members. The demand for mechanized farm power is there, the supply isn’t and that is the issue,” he explained.

Unlike studies before it, the research avoided country-level indicators, such as the share of fallow land or population density, to assess the need for mechanized farming operations. Instead, it gathered detailed labor data from households in eight sites dominated by smallholder agriculture across Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

The study demonstrated that households that invest in agricultural power improve food production.

“To increase farm productivity, profitability, and sustainability, African farmers need greater access to affordable farm machinery to optimize processes,” Baudron said.

Small-scale mechanization appropriately sized for small farms — such as technologies based on two-wheel tractors, including direct planters — represents a shift away from conventional mechanization strategies dependent on large machines, leading to land consolidation and the disappearance of otherwise-productive small farms, Baudron said.

“Governments in the region need to create an enabling environment for mechanization supply chains to develop,” he explained. “This includes the creation of mechanization policy instruments, such as subsidies and training, that further respond to smallholder demand.”

Training and supporting hire service providers has shown to improve the equitable access to mechanization, which reduces labor drudgery and promotes sustainable intensification practices.

The research also presented a more nuanced analysis of the interrelations between male and female labor than usually presented in academic studies. It found women provide less labor than men and hired labor and suggests reducing drudgery among women relies upon understanding men’s chores and improving both as a two-way process.

In all sites studied rural women found that the priority for mechanization should be given to crop establishment, which would benefit both men and women. Land preparation and planting are tasks commonly performed by males, but their optimization influences weeding and postharvest tasks, primarily completed by women.

“These interconnections between men’s and women’s tasks have rarely been mentioned before, and should be tapped into for gender-sensitive interventions,” said Baudron.

Florence Ochieng harvests green maize on her 105-acre family farm near Kitale, Kenya. (Photo: P. Lowe/CIMMYT)

Five persistent myths related to labor in African smallholder agriculture, challenged

Myth 1: Labor is abundant and cheap; thus, farm power does not limit agricultural productivity

Reality: It is commonly believed farm power does not limit agricultural productivity because there is an abundant amount of cheap labor options in southern and eastern Africa. However, the farm-level study showed a lack of farm power is holding back productivity and illustrated a much higher demand for mechanization than macroeconomic analyses, pointing to a problem of access rather than a lack of demand. It revealed the importance of labor or other sources of farm power in explaining the variability of land productivity. It also found that investments in farm power at the farm level improved land productivity.

Myth 2: Most of the labor is provided by women

Reality: Across the eight sites studied, women were found to provide just 7 to 35% of the labor invested in household farming, far less than the often-claimed percentage of 60 to 80%. Overall, the farm-level study found women tended to provide less labor for farming than men and hired labor. Even when considering female-headed households alone, women were only the main providers of labor in half of the sites — hired labor or children were we the main providers of labor.

The largest share of female labor tended to be invested in activities characterized by high drudgery, weeding and postharvest in particular, although this varied across sites. Weeding was also the main task performed by men in four of the sites studied. In fact, the study revealed that weeding tended to be a shared task between men, women, children, and hired labor, and not as dominated by female labor as commonly thought.

Myth 3: Agricultural tasks are carried out almost entirely by family labor

Reality: The study showed the majority of farming households in the region hire labor to complete agricultural tasks. Farm power hired included human labor, draught animals and, to a much lesser extent, tractor power.

This challenges the common view of Africa being dominated by family farms which, according to FAO, “rely mainly on the labor of family members.” African farming households may be far more dependent on labor markets than commonly assumed, and thus far more inclined to hire mechanization services.

Myth 4: Consolidation, by enabling “efficient” mechanization, would have a positive impact on agricultural productivity

Reality: The study found the maximum land productivity a farm can achieve decreased with increasing farm area in the majority of sites. This supports the so-called “negative farm size–productivity relationship” which has been reported by other studies in eastern and southern Africa.

Mechanization should not be a cause of consolidation — it should rather be driven by economic development. The concept of “appropriate mechanization” embraced by CIMMYT argues that machines should adapt to farm size, and not the opposite. Recent research and development initiatives taking place in the region point to the potential of using small single-axle tractors for agricultural mechanization in areas dominated by small and fragmented fields.

Myth 5: African agriculture is characterized by a wide gender gap

Reality: Research across all eight sites provided little evidence of a consistent gender gap. Land productivity was found not to differ significantly between male-headed households and female-headed households.

The research suggests the limited evidence of any substantial gender gap may stem from the fact that resources are highly inadequate across all sites, limiting large inequalities to manifest. This is not to deny the usefulness of current interventions targeting women-headed households, but rather to highlight the importance of preserving, strengthening, and tapping on social mechanisms in rural communities.

Read the complete study:
‘A farm-level assessment of labor and mechanization in Eastern and Southern Africa’

For more information on appropriate-sized agricultural mechanization in Africa

Wheat Productivity Enhancement Program (WPEP)

Written by Courtney Brantley on April 12, 2019. Posted in Uncategorized.

The Wheat Productivity Enhancement Program aims to enhance and protect the productivity of wheat in Pakistan by supporting research that leads to the identification, adoption, and optimal agronomic management of new, high yielding, disease-resistant wheat varieties. The main goal of the project is to facilitate efforts of scientific institutions in Pakistan to minimize adverse effects of wheat rusts — including the highly virulent Ug99 stem rust disease — through surveillance and genetically resistant varieties.

As part of the U.S. government’s assistance to Pakistan, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Pakistan’s Ministry of Agriculture have identified the development of wheat varieties with resistance to virulent rust strains as a goal for improving food security and related agricultural production challenges. This document outlines a project for providing cereal rust protection for wheat production in Pakistan.

This wheat production enhancement project is a multi-partner, collaborative research and development program that includes human resource development. The primary external partners — USDA, CIMMYT, and the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas — work cooperatively with Pakistan research organizations to refine work plans and implement research and development activities in rust surveillance, pre-breeding, breeding, seed, and agronomy as described in objectives section.

Objectives

Rust pathogen surveillance
Pre-breeding to enhance the diversity and utility of rust resistant wheat breeding parent
Accelerated breeding to develop and test rust resistant, high performance candidate wheat varieties
Seed multiplication and distribution
Agronomic management practices

MasAgro Farmer

Written by Mary Donovan on April 12, 2019. Posted in Uncategorized.

MasAgro Farmer, a component of CIMMYT’s MasAgro project, develops a sustainable intensification strategy for maize, wheat and similar grains by building hubs based on research platforms, demonstration modules and extension areas where sustainable farming practices and technologies are tested, improved and adapted. In 2015, main achievements included:

Average maize and wheat yields obtained by farmers participating in MasAgro were 20.5 percent and 2.8 percent higher, respectively, than the average yields achieved in the regions of Mexico where they live.

The average net income of maize and wheat farmers participating in MasAgro was 23 percent and 4 percent higher, respectively, than the average net incomes of their region in Mexico.

MasAgro set up 12 hubs with 43 research platforms and 452 demonstration modules that developed, tested, adapted and disseminated sustainable farming practices and technologies.

46 technicians were certified in sustainable agriculture and another 55 begun their training in 2015. CIMMYT has so far certified 294 MasAgro technicians.

4,009 extension areas were registered in MasAgro’s electronic field books.

MasAgro experts developed 17 new machinery prototypes and produced 26 precision farming tools and machines for sustainable farming of maize, wheat and similar grains.

OBJECTIVES

To promote conservation and precision agriculture practices to sustainably increase maize and wheat production in Mexico.
To develop skills and to transfer knowledge and technologies specifically adapted to meet the needs of the small scale farmer.
To reduce the impact of climate change in agriculture.

MasAgro Maize

Written by Mary Donovan on April 12, 2019. Posted in Uncategorized.

MasAgro Maize, a component of CIMMYT’s MasAgro project, promotes the sustainable development of both maize grain and seed producers by breeding maize hybrids with conventional technologies and improving native maize seed in collaborative breeding projects with participant farmers. MasAgro’s improved maize seeds are tested in collaboration with the local seed sector that, in turn, commercializes the best adapted materials in Mexico’s growing regions. In 2015, MasAgro Maize’s main results were:

16 collaborative breeding trials of native maize were established with participant farmers in eight communities in the state of Oaxaca in southwest Mexico.
48 small and medium-sized Mexican seed companies collaborated with MasAgro Maize. Together, they produced 1.2 million 20 kilogram bags containing 60,000 seeds of hybrid maize.
Participating companies increased sales of MasAgro hybrid seed by 44 percent from 2014 to 2015.
Local seed companies sold 26 MasAgro hybrids branded under 100 commercial names in 19 states, 78 regions and 257 municipalities of Mexico.

OBJECTIVES

To have the technology and genetic materials needed to raise average rainfed maize production in Mexico from 2.2 to 3.7 tons per hectare over a 10 year period.
To increase the use of high-yielding, improved maize seed in Mexico over an area of between 1.5 and 3 million hectares.
To raise Mexico’s production of rainfed maize between 5 and 9 million tons in 10 years.
To promote the development of the maize seed industry in Mexico.
To strengthen food security in Mexico and in the rest of the world.

MasAgro Maize partners are encouraged to apply for licenses to commercialize CIMMYT maize hybrids, following the procedures described in the Allocations page.

Sustainable and Resilient Farming Systems Intensification in the Eastern Gangetic Plains (SRFSI)

Written by Mary Donovan on April 12, 2019. Posted in Uncategorized.

The Eastern Gangetic Plains region of Bangladesh, India, and Nepal is home to the greatest concentration of rural poor in the world. This region is projected to be one of the areas most affected by climate change. Local farmers are already experiencing the impact of climate change: erratic monsoon rains, floods and other extreme weather events have affected agricultural production for the past decade. The region’s smallholder farming systems have low productivity, and yields are too variable to provide a solid foundation for food security. Inadequate access to irrigation, credit, inputs and extension systems limit capacity to adapt to climate change or invest in innovation. Furthermore, large-scale migration away from agricultural areas has led to labor shortages and increasing numbers of women in agriculture.

The Sustainable and Resilient Farming Systems Intensification (SRFSI) project aims to reduce poverty in the Eastern Gangetic Plains by making smallholder agriculture more productive, profitable and sustainable while safeguarding the environment and involving women. CIMMYT, project partners and farmers are exploring Conservation Agriculture-based Sustainable Intensification (CASI) and efficient water management as foundations for increasing crop productivity and resilience. Technological changes are being complemented by research into institutional innovations that strengthen adaptive capacity and link farmers to markets and support services, enabling both women and men farmers to adapt and thrive in the face of climate and economic change.

In its current phase, the project team is identifying and closing capacity gaps so that stakeholders can scale CASI practices beyond the project lifespan. Priorities include crop diversification and rotation, reduced tillage using machinery, efficient water management practices, and integrated weed management practices. Women farmers are specifically targeted in the scaling project: it is intended that a third of participants will be women and that at least 25% of the households involved will be led by women.

The 9.7 million Australian dollar (US$7.2 million) SRFSI project is a collaboration between CIMMYT and the project funder, the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research. More than 20 partner organizations include the Departments of Agriculture in the focus countries, the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, the Indian Council for Agricultural Research, the Nepal Agricultural Research Council, Uttar Banga Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Bihar Agricultural University, EcoDev Solutions, iDE, Agrevolution, Rangpur-Dinajpur Rural Services, JEEViKA, Sakhi Bihar, DreamWork Solutions, CSIRO and the Universities of Queensland and Western Australia.

OBJECTIVES

Understand farmer circumstances with respect to cropping systems, natural and economic resources base, livelihood strategies, and capacity to bear risk and undertake technological innovation
Develop with farmers more productive and sustainable technologies that are resilient to climate risks and profitable for smallholders
Catalyze, support and evaluate institutional and policy changes that establish an enabling environment for the adoption of high-impact technologies
Facilitate widespread adoption of sustainable, resilient and more profitable farming systems

Zero-tillage service provision is key to facilitating adoption.

Service provider Azgad Ali and farmer Samaru Das have a fruitful relationship based on technology promoted through CIMMYT’s SRSFI project.

A zero-tillage multi-crop planter at work in West Bengal.

Bablu Modak demonstrates his unpuddled mechanically transplanted rice.

CIMMYT’s SRFSI team and the community walk through the fields during a field visit in Cooch Behar.

Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS)

Written by Mary Donovan on April 12, 2019. Posted in Uncategorized.

African maize farmers must deal with drought, weeds, and pests, but their problems start with degraded, nutrient-starved soils and their inability to purchase enough nitrogen fertilizer. Maize yields of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are a fraction of those in the developed world, due mainly to the region’s poor soils and farmers’ limited access to fertilizer or improved maize seed. On average, such farmers apply only 9 kilograms of fertilizer per hectare of cropland. Of that small amount, often less than half is captured by the crop; the rest is leached deep into the soil where plants cannot recover it or otherwise lost.

The Improved Maize for African Soils Project (IMAS) develops maize varieties that are better at capturing the small amount of fertilizer that African farmers can afford, and that use the nitrogen they take up more efficiently to produce grain. Project participants will use cutting-edge biotechnology tools such as molecular markers—DNA “signposts” for traits of interest—and transgenic approaches to develop varieties that ultimately yield 30 to 50 percent more than currently available varieties, with the same amount of nitrogen fertilizer applied or when grown on poorer soils.

The varieties developed will be made available royalty-free to seed companies that sell to the region’s smallholder farmers, meaning that the seed will become available to farmers at the same cost as other types of improved maize seed.

In four years or less, African farmers should have access to IMAS varieties developed using conventional breeding that offer a 20 percent yield advantage over current varieties. Improved varieties developed using DNA marker techniques are expected to be introduced within seven to nine years, and those containing transgenic traits are expected to be available in approximately 10 years, pending product performance and regulatory approvals by national regulatory and scientific authorities, according to the established laws and regulatory procedures in each country.

IMAS is being led by CIMMYT and funded with $19.5 million in grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the U.S. Agency for International Development. The project’s other partners — DuPont-Pioneer, Kenya Agricultural Livestock and Research Organization and the Agricultural Research Council of South Africa — are also providing significant in-kind contributions including staff, infrastructure, seed, traits, technology, training, and know-how.

The second phase of IMAS continues to be implemented through the Seed Production Technology for Africa (SPTA) project.

OBJECTIVES

Conventional and marker assisted breeding to develop hybrids and OPVs with improved nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) adapted to southern and eastern Africa
Identification and deployment of native trait alleles to enhance yield under low nitrogen conditions through association mapping and Quantitative Trait Loci mapping
Development of transgenic maize varieties adapted to southern and eastern Africa with increased yield under severe nitrogen limitation
Managing NUE varieties for sustainability in African maize cropping systems
Project stewardship, public awareness and capacity building
NUE variety registration, release and dissemination in southern and eastern Africa

Hill Maize Research Project (HMRP)

Written by Mary Donovan on April 12, 2019. Posted in Uncategorized.

The Hill Maize Research Project (HMRP), funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation was initiated in 1999 with the objective of increasing the food security of farm families in the hills of Nepal by raising the productivity and sustainability of maize-based cropping systems. The HMRP went through three phases between 1999 and 2010, the fourth and final phase began in August 2010 and concluded in 2015. There are two key outcomes for the project.

First, farm households in the hills of Nepal, especially those belonging to women, poor and disadvantaged groups, have improved food security and income.

Second, the National Seed Board, the Nepal Agricultural Research Council and the Department of Agriculture enforce quality control in both public and private institutions.

OBJECTIVES

Farm households in the hills of Nepal, especially of poor and disadvantaged groups, have improved food security and income.
Available varieties and technologies are used
Poor and disadvantaged households have increased access to quality maize seed and proven technologies
Groups/cooperatives supply quality seeds at competitive market prices
Poor and disadvantaged maize producing households will have access to multiple agricultural interventions for enhanced productivity
The National Seed Board (NSB), NARC, and the DoA allow decentralization of the source seed production system
Public and private institutions obtain seed inspection mandate and license
CBSP/cooperatives manage supply of quality seed
The NSB and NARC consider HMRP’s experience in variety development, certification and release system

PRINCIPAL COORDINATOR

Nirmal Gadal

Ethiopia Wheat Rust Scaling

Written by Courtney Brantley on April 12, 2019. Posted in Uncategorized.

Wheat is a traditional crop cultivated by about five million households on 1.6 million hectares in Ethiopia. Despite the country’s huge potential, the average wheat productivity of 2.5 tonnes per hectare is lower than the global average of 3 tonnes per hectare. Stem rust and yellow rust diseases caused by Pucccinia spp. are the major biotic constraints for wheat production in the country and recent recurrent outbreaks have debilitated many wheat varieties in major production areas in Ethiopia.

Projects to accelerate seed multiplication of rust resistant varieties funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and others contributed to the replacement of the widely grown susceptible varieties Kubsa and Galama. However, in 2013–2014, a new Pgt race, identified as TKTTF, unrelated to the highly virulent Ug99 rust disease, which is also present in Ethiopia, caused 100 percent yield losses on bread wheat variety Digalu in some regions.

The Ethiopia Wheat Rust Scaling seed and surveillance project aims to develop, demonstrate and scale up high-yielding wheat varieties with adult plant resistance to prevailing rust pathogens with the following objectives: enhancement of rust surveillance; early warning and phenotyping; fast-track variety testing and pre-release seed multiplication to assure availability of rust resistant improved wheat varieties for distribution in targeted districts; accelerating seed multiplication of durable rust resistant wheat varieties through the formal and informal seed systems; demonstration and scaling up of improved wheat varieties and improving linkages between small scale durum wheat producers and agro-industries with the aim of creating market access to smallholder durum wheat producers.

The project includes conducting wheat rust surveys, training and field days. Farmer cooperative unions are being organized in clusters and women and youth groups will participate in informal seed production. The number of private seed enterprises and women farmers participating in the accelerated informal seed multiplication program will be increased as the project progresses in consultation with stakeholders.

CIMMYT worked with the Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat project to import of 5 tons of stem rust resistant bread wheat variety “Kingbird” and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Cereal Disease Laboratory, the University of Minnesota and Washington State University in phenotyping and genotyping of commercial cultivars and elite materials from the national wheat research program, respectively.

Objectives

Enhancement of rust surveillance, early warning and phenotyping.
Fast-track variety testing and pre-release seed multiplication to assure availability of rust resistant improved wheat varieties for distribution in targeted districts.
Accelerating seed multiplication of durable rust resistant wheat varieties through the formal and informal seed systems.
Demonstration and scaling up of improved wheat varieties.
Improving linkages between small scale durum wheat producers and agro-industries with the aim of creating market access to smallholder durum wheat producers in 10 districts.

Farm Mechanization and Conservation Agriculture for Sustainable Intensification (FACASI)

Written by Mary Donovan on April 12, 2019. Posted in Uncategorized.

Agricultural intensification is both a need and an opportunity for countries in sub-Sahara Africa. For intensification to occur sustainably — with minimum negative environmental and social consequences — it is widely recognized that resources must be used with much greater efficiency. Although much emphasis is being placed in current research for development work on increasing the efficiency with which land, water and nutrients are being used, farm power appears as the “forgotten resource.” However, farm power in countries sub-Saharan Africa is declining due to the collapse of most hire tractor schemes, the decline in number of draft animals and the decline in human labor related to rural-urban migration. Another aspect of low farm power is high labor drudgery, which affects women, who generally due the majority of threshing, shelling and transport by head-loadings, disproportionally. Undoubtedly, sustainable intensification in these countries will require an improvement of farm-power balance through increased power supply — via improved access to mechanization — and/or reduced power demand – via energy saving technologies such as conservation agriculture techniques.

The Farm Mechanization and Conservation Agriculture for Sustainable Intensification project examines how best to exploit synergies between small-scale-mechanization and conservation agriculture. The overall goal of the project is to improve farm power balance, reduce labour drudgery, and minimize biomass trade-offs in Eastern and Southern Africa, through accelerated delivery and adoption of two-wheel-tractor-based technologies by smallholders.

This project is now in the second phase, which began on June 1, 2017.

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate and demonstrate two wheel tractor-based technologies in the four selected sites of Eastern and Southern Africa, using expertise/knowledge/skills/implements from Africa, South Asia and Australia
To test site-specific market systems to deliver two wheel tractor-based mechanization in the four countries
To identify improvements in national markets and policies for wide delivery of two wheel tractor-based mechanization
To create awareness on two wheel tractor-based technologies in the sub-region and share knowledge and information with other regions

International Wheat Yield Partnership (IWYP)

Written by Courtney Brantley on April 11, 2019. Posted in Uncategorized.

In 2011, agriculture ministers from the Group of 20 nations committed to developing an international initiative to coordinate worldwide research efforts in wheat genetics, genomics, physiology, breeding and agronomy.

The result, the Wheat Initiative, aims to encourage and support the development of a vibrant global public-private research community by sharing resources, capabilities, data and ideas to improve wheat productivity, quality and sustainable production around the world.

One of the Wheat Initiative’s key aims – increasing wheat yield and developing new wheat varieties adapted to different geographical regions – will be delivered by the International Wheat Yield Partnership (IWYP) – an international partnership of research funders and research organizations.

The partnership was initiated by CIMMYT, the Britain’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Mexico’s Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food and the U.S. Agency for International Development in 2012. IWYP represents a long-term, global endeavor that utilizes a collaborative approach to bring together funding from public and private research organizations from a large number of countries.

The partnership supports both core infrastructure and facilitates transnational open calls for research, all targeted at raising the yield potential of wheat.

All partners are committed to transparency, collaboration, open communication of results, data sharing as well as improved coordination to maximize global impact and eliminate duplication of effort.

IWYP is an independent research activity but, as with all public wheat research activities, IWYP will help the Wheat Initiative to fulfill its mission to “co-ordinate wheat research and contribute to global food security.”

This partnership builds on previous work of the Wheat Yield Consortium.

Objectives

Increasing wheat yield and developing new wheat varieties adapted to different geographical regions
Support core infrastructure and facilitate transnational open calls for research, all targeted at raising the yield potential of wheat

Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA)

Written by Mary Donovan on April 11, 2019. Posted in Uncategorized.

The Water Efficient Maize for Africa partnership was launched in March 2008 to help farmers manage the risk of drought by developing and deploying maize varieties that yield 24 to 35 percent more grain under moderate drought conditions than currently available varieties. The higher and more reliable harvests will help farmers to feed their families and increase their incomes.

The varieties are being developed using conventional breeding, marker-assisted breeding, and biotechnology, and will be marketed royalty-free to smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa through African seed companies. The current, second phase of the project (2013–2017) includes breeding for resistance to stem borers—insect pests that seriously damage maize crops in the field—as well as product and production management, promotion with seed companies and farmers, and product stewardship activities.

The project focuses on Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The second phase of the project began on February 1, 2013.

OBJECTIVES

Product development. Develop and test drought tolerant and and insect-pest resistant maize varieties through conventional, molecular, and genetic engineering breeding approaches.
Regulatory affairs and compliance. Support multi-location testing and commercial release of drought tolerant and insect-pest resistant maize hybrids in the Water Efficient Maize for Africa partner countries.
Product deployment: Product and production management. Facilitate the marketing and stewardship of drought tolerant and insect-pest resistant hybrid maize seeds, and stimulate private sector investments for sustainable seed production, distribution and us
Communications and outreach. Support testing, dissemination, commercialization, adoption, and stewardship of conventional and transgenic drought tolerant and insect-pest resistant hybrids in the five target countries.
Legal and licensing support. Develop and implement appropriate licensing and intellectual property protection mechanisms for Water Efficient Maize for Africa products.

FUNDING INSTITUTIONS

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Howard G. Buffett Foundation
U.S. Agency for International Development

PRINCIPAL COORDINATOR

Stephen Mugo

Profitability under different fertilization recommendation scenarios in Ethiopia and Tanzania, measured in U.S. dollars per hectare.

How the data revolution could help design better agronomic investments

Written by Jérôme Bossuet on April 2, 2019. Posted in Features.

What fertilizer application will give me the best returns? What maize crop variety should I use?

Each farmer faces constraints related to weather uncertainty, soil fertility management challenges, or access to finance and markets. To improve their yields and incomes, African smallholder farmers need agronomic advice adapted to their specific circumstances. The challenge is even greater in sub-Saharan Africa, where agricultural production landscapes are highly diverse. Yet traditional agronomic research was not designed to fit with complex agroecological regions and farming systems. Compounding the problem, research organizations often have limited resources to develop the necessary experiments to generate farm- and site-specific agronomic advice at scale.

“Agronomic research is traditionally not equipped to consider spatial or socio-economic diversity among the millions of farmers it targets,” said Sebastian Palmas, data scientist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Nairobi, Kenya.

Palmas presented some of the learnings of the Taking Maize Agronomy to Scale in Africa (TAMASA) project during a science seminar called “A spatial ex ante framework for guiding agronomic investments in sub-Saharan Africa” on March, 4, 2019.

The project, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has used data to improve the way agronomic research for development is done. Researchers working on the TAMASA project addressed this challenge by using available geospatial information and other big data resources, along with new data science tools such as machine learning and Microsoft’s AI for Earth. They were able to produce and package information that can help farmers, research institutions and governments take better decisions on what agronomic practices and investments will give them the best returns.

By adapting the Quantitative Evaluation of the Fertility of Tropical Soils (QUEFTS) model to the conditions of small farmers in TAMASA target countries (Ethiopia, Nigeria and Tanzania), using different layers of information, CIMMYT and its partners have developed a versatile geospatial tool for evaluating crop yield responses to fertilizer applications in different areas of a given country. Because calculations integrate spatial variation of fertilizer and grain prices, the tool evaluates the profitability — a key factor influencing farmers’ fertilizer usage — for each location. The project team can generate maps that show, for instance, the estimated agronomic and economic returns to different fertilizer application scenarios.

The TAMASA team plans to publish the code and user-friendly interface of this new geospatial assessment tool later this year. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Making profits grow

These tools could potentially help national fertilizer subsidy programs be more targeted and impactful, like the ambitious Ethiopia’s Fertilizer Blending initiative which distributes up to 250,000 tons of fertilizer annually. Initial calculations showed that, by optimizing diammonium phosphate (DAP) and urea application, the profitability per hectare could improve by 14 percent on average, compared to the current fertilizer recommendations.

Such an approach could generate farm-specific advice at scale and boost farmers’ incomes. It could also provide insights on many different issues, like estimating market demand for a new fertilizer blend, or the estimated quantity of additional fertilizer required to bring about a targeted maize yield increase.

Future extensions of the framework may incorporate varietal differences in nutrient management responses, and thus enable seed companies to use the framework to predict where a new maize hybrid would perform best. Similarly, crop breeders could adapt this ex ante assessment tool to weigh the pros and cons of a specific trait and the potential impact for farmers.

The TAMASA team plans to publish the code and user-friendly interface of this new geospatial assessment tool later this year.

Maize Doubled Haploid Production Services

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on March 29, 2019. Posted in Uncategorized.

CIMMYT provides a maize doubled haploid (DH) production service at cost to maize breeding programs in Africa and Latin America at its DH facilities in Kenya and Mexico.

This service reduces the time required to develop homozygous maize lines to just over one year, instead of three to seven years using more traditional inbreeding methods. This technology also results in better-quality maize lines: DH maize lines are 100% homozygous, whereas traditional inbreeding generates lines with only approximately 99.2% homozygosity. These advantages help breeders increase their rate of genetic gain: the rate at which the genetic potential of a crop increases in yield over time.

CIMMYT established centralized DH line production facilities for Africa at KALRO-Kiboko, Kenya. A similar facility is also in operation for Latin America at CIMMYT’s experimental station in Agua Fría, Mexico. Public and private sector organizations involved in maize breeding can access the DH production service by signing a DH service agreement.