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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.

Growing more with less: Improving productivity, resilience and sustainability in Africa

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HARARE, Zimbabwe (CIMMYT) – “Rain patterns have changed tremendously,” says Dyless Kasawala, a smallholder farmer in Kasungu district, Malawi. “It’s different from the old days when you would be sure of a great harvest after the rains.”

For more than three decades now, life has not been easy for Kasawala and thousands of other smallholder farmers in this harsh, dry environment. Kasawala’s story is common throughout eastern and southern Africa. Observations by smallholder farmers confirm scientific evidence that shows climate change is occurring at an alarming rate, and could leave 50 million people in the region hungry by 2050.

CIMMYT technician Herbert Chipara inspects maize devastated by drought in Mutoko district, Zimbabwe. Photo: P. Lowe/CIMMYT
CIMMYT technician Herbert Chipara inspects maize devastated by drought in Mutoko district, Zimbabwe. CIMMYT/P. Lowe

From 1900 to 2013, droughts killed close to one million people in Africa, with economic damages of about $3 billion affecting over 360 million people. Such droughts are a clear sign of the high yield variability that impedes escape from poverty and hunger for millions of Africans. Climate change could also result in a 40 percent increase in the number of malnourished people in sub-Saharan Africa by 2050, according to the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa.

Sub-Saharan Africa must become resilient to climate change effects like variable and severe drought and rainfall to ensure future food security. Practicing sustainable farming techniques can help small-scale farmers adapt to these challenges.

Across the world, more farmers are beginning to practice sustainable intensification (SI), which offers the potential to simultaneously adapt farming systems to climate change, sustainably manage land, soil, nutrient and water resources, improve food and nutrition security, and ultimately reduce rural poverty.

In practice, SI involves such conservation agriculture (CA) practices as minimal soil disturbance, permanent soil cover and the use of crop rotation to simultaneously maintain and boost yields, increase profits and protect the environment. It contributes to improved soil function and quality, which can improve resilience to climate variability. The cropping systems CIMMYT promotes can be labelled as climate-resilient, according to the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Husband and wife farmers Elphas Chinyanga (right) and Rita Gatsi tend their conservation agriculture demonstration plot in Pindukai village, Shamva district, Zimbabwe. Photo: P. Lowe/CIMMYT
Husband and wife farmers Elphas Chinyanga (right) and Rita Gatsi tend their conservation agriculture demonstration plot in Pindukai village, Shamva district, Zimbabwe. CIMMYT/P. Lowe

“We received little rain this year, but we’ll still have enough food,” says Kasawala, who is participating in a project led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), which aims to increase farm-level food security and productivity through SI.

Kasawala was one of the first farmers to practice sustainable intensification in her district in 2010. She has managed to improve soil fertility in her fields, increase her maize yield and improve her household food security.

“Farmers have a number of technological options, but ultimately they have to make informed decisions on which technologies to adopt,” said Eric Craswell, co-chair of CIMMYT’s Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Cropping Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) project steering committee. Such farmers as Kasawala who practice CA through SIMLESA participate in on-farm trials, which compare CA to conventional farming practices, test different levels of herbicide use and maize-legume crop rotations.

Maize farmers participating in SIMLESA are increasing yields and profits through sustainable intensification by increasing rotating and intercropping their maize with legumes. Above, smallholder farmer Lughano Mwangonde and sustainable intensification farmer in her conservation agriculture demonstration plot in Balaka district, Malawi. Photo: J. Siamachira/CIMMYT
Maize farmers participating in SIMLESA are increasing yields and profits through sustainable intensification by increasing rotating and intercropping their maize with legumes. Above, smallholder farmer Lughano Mwangonde and sustainable intensification farmer in her conservation agriculture demonstration plot in Balaka district, Malawi. CIMMYT/J. Siamachira

According to SIMLESA’s project leader Mulugetta Mekuria, there is evidence that shows new drought-tolerant maize varieties when coupled with SI bring even greater benefits to farmers. For example, combining elite drought-tolerant maize with direct seeding systems can improve the performance of maize by more than 80 percent. Now, nearly 650 maize and legume varieties, approved by farmers and selected by over 40 local seed companies, are being commercially distributed in the five SIMLESA countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania).

Zero tillage – a CA practice that directly sows seeds into unplowed soil and the residues of previous crops – has helped farmers cut planting time in half, allowing them to engage in other economic activities.

“Sustainable intensification is the only option to feed the extra two billion people by 2050, when resources are limited,” said John Dixon, principal advisor/research and program manager for the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR)’s Cropping Systems and Economics program. ‘’Now is the time to scale-up by taking our research to farmers through extension, non-governmental organizations and farmers’ associations.”

Through 2018, CIMMYT will focus on bringing sustainable intensification to even more farmers throughout eastern and southern Africa. Collaborative work with farmers, extension agencies, non-governmental organizations, universities and agribusiness is expected to improve maize and legume productivity by 30 percent and reduce expected yield risk by 30 percent in about 650,000 rural households over a period of 10 years.

CIMMYT’s Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Cropping Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) project is funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) with strong collaboration from National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) and a wide range of private, university, public sector and non-governmental organizations. It aims at increasing farm-level food security and productivity in the context of climate risk and change.

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Weeding out the losses: Striga challenges in Kenya

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Striga at root, and germinating. Photo: K. Kaimenyi/CIMMYT
Striga at root, and germinating. Photo: K. Kaimenyi/CIMMYT

SIAYA, Kenya (CIMMYT) — Every planting season presents a different kind of challenge for smallholder farmers, and for those in Siaya’s Alego sub-county in Western Kenya, the nightmare of a recurring crop-killing weed is all too real. Known by its local name kayongo, the Striga weed is one of the leading causes of crop loss, a significant dent to farmers’ livelihoods and major hindrance to food security in the area.

Over 20 million hectares (ha) of crop land in sub-Saharan Africa is Striga-infested, resulting in a whopping $ 1 billion in annual yield loss, affecting more than 100 million people. Over 1.4 million ha of East Africa’s farmland is affected by Striga, with over 340,000 ha of farmland affected in Kenya alone.

Striga, also referred to as “witch weed,” damages the crop long before it appears above ground, adding to its destructive qualities, further complicating its management. This parasitic weed attaches itself to the roots of host plants – usually cereals like maize and sorghum – then extracts essential nutrients and moisture meant for growth, causing stunted growth and crop loss. Once above ground, the Striga flower produces between 50,000-200,000 seeds, which are released into the soil and triggered to germinate when close to potential host crop roots. In the absence of host crops, the seeds remain dormant in the soil for over 20 years, only to attack in subsequent maize planting seasons when conditions become favorable.

Early signs of Striga infestation in maize include folded leaves and wilting, even when there is sufficient soil moisture. Ironically, the appearance of Striga’s beautiful purple flowers at full bloom signals the impending death of the affected maize plant.

Striga is especially prevalent in low soil fertility environments where insufficient use of agricultural inputs such as fertilizer, and cereal mono-cropping is evident. Kenya’s lake region is most affected, with at least nine species of Striga been reported in the country and Striga hermonthica – considered the most lethal of them all – is widespread in densely populated regions.

For decades, hand weeding or pulling has been practiced as a method for Striga control, however this is very labor intensive, translating to huge costs for the farmer, and is not minimally effective since damage is caused at the root of the plant.

“I learned about intercropping from an extension agent and decided to try it out on a small plot, before planting in the larger plot,” Hellen Owino shares, adding, “I think I’m now ready to plant on the larger piece of land. Even though some Striga plants emerge, I’m able to weed them out before they flower, and my yield is not severely affected.” Photo: K. Kaimenyi/CIMMYT
“I learned about intercropping from an extension agent and decided to try it out on a small plot, before planting in the larger plot,” Hellen Owino shares, adding, “I think I’m now ready to plant on the larger piece of land. Even though some Striga plants emerge, I’m able to weed them out before they flower, and my yield is not severely affected.” Photo: K. Kaimenyi/CIMMYT

So, what hope is there for farmers in Striga-prone areas?

Inter-cropping, which is the simultaneous planting of two or more crops in the same field, is one of the most widely practiced Striga control measures.

“Unlike cereal roots, legume roots do not stimulate weed growth, so even though Striga seeds will remain in the soil, growth will not occur,” according to Leonard Rusinamhodzi, an agronomist with The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), who says that growing legumes alongside maize reduces the emergence of Striga.

“On the other hand, legumes like cowpea are called trap crops because they stimulate growth of Striga, but the weed has no roots to attach to, and subsequently dies. Legumes also fix nitrogen into soils, a deterrent for Striga, which thrives in low nitrogen environments,” says Rusinamhodzi.

Two years ago, Hellen Akinyi Owino, a farmer and mother of six had given up on maize farming following consistent poor yields from her Striga-stricken farm. Even when the rains stopped mid-season, she expected to harvest up to eight 90-kilogram bags from her 0.8 ha plot, but with Striga choking up her crop, she just harvested just one bag. With her family’s livelihood in jeopardy, Owino was forced to seek alternative income generating activities. She stripped her plot of all maize and Striga plants, and put up a tree nursery instead, from which she makes money selling seedlings.

“I am a maize farmer first, so I had to figure out a way to get back to it while reducing losses from Striga,” Owino shares, adding, “I learned about intercropping from an extension agent and decided to try it out on a small plot, before planting in the larger plot.” For two years now she has planted beans alongside maize, consistently applying organic fertilizer, and stuck to a regular weeding schedule.

Striga flowered. Photo: CIMMYT/ James Njeru
Striga flowered. Photo: J. Njeru/CIMMYT

Another even more effective solution to Striga is planting herbicide-resistant maize.

StrigAway™, or Ua Kayongo as it is known in Western Kenya, is described on Feed the Future’s Partnering for Innovation website as an Imidazolinone-Resistance (IR) maize technology package, comprising conventionally bred herbicide resistant maize varieties and Imazapyr seed treatment, an herbicide seed coating.

Since herbicide is applied to the seed coat, the recommended effective dose for controlling Striga is low, which is both environmentally friendly and affordable. Moreover, the herbicide dissipates easily from the soil before the next planting season, without any effect on subsequent crops.

However, if farmers were to recycle the seed, they would need to coat it again with the herbicide to control Striga, a practice which is neither feasible nor advisable at the farm level. Another challenge to uptake is that the IR maize starts off poorly, often looking as if it is nitrogen deficient, and may discourage farmers from taking up IR technology.

CIMMYT and partners’ efforts towards Striga management include both good agronomic practices and promotion of herbicide-resistant maize. So far, 12 herbicide resistant varieties have been released in East Africa, and seven hybrids released in Kenya and Tanzania. On-farm experimental trials give farmers first-hand experience of how these varieties perform, and hope that the lethal weed will be contained.

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Private sector seed distribution vital for food security, World Food Prize delegates say

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arturosilva
Arturo Silva delivers a presentation at the Seed Security for Food Security forum at the World Food Prize conference in Des Moines, Iowa.

DES MOINES, Iowa (CIMMYT) – Public-private collaborations can deliver improved seeds to smallholder farmers faster, speeding up global efforts to meet food security targets, said delegates attending a forum at the World Food Prize gathering this week in Des Moines, Iowa.

Already more than 800 million people go hungry worldwide and by 2050, global population will increase by more than 2 billion people to at least 9 billion. Among the many challenges scientists face in boosting food crop yields to meet demand is the distribution of high-yielding, nutritionally enhanced, often drought-tolerant, crop varieties to smallholder farmers in developing countries.

“We’re hamstrung when it comes to getting improved seeds into the hands of farmers due to a lack of affordable production capabilities,” said Arturo Silva, who leads the International Maize Improvement Consortium in Latin America (IMIC-LA), which is based at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) near Mexico City. “That’s where private sector seed companies come in – we need collaborations to ensure the seed gets to farmers.”

In Mexico, Silva and other CIMMYT scientists collaborate with the government through the MasAgro project – which promotes the sustainable intensification of maize and wheat production – and with private seed companies through IMIC-LA to distribute seeds that flourish in sub-tropical, tropical and highland environments.

“We still have 2.5 million hectares to convert from old products to new hybrids, but we are convinced we can make Mexico self-sufficient in maize,” Silva said. “We must democratize seed through public-private partnerships to help farmers who still lack access to technology.”

Currently, Mexican farmers produce 22 million tons of maize a year, but consumer demand outweighs production, leading to imports of up to 12 million tons of yellow maize from the United States a year at a cost of $2.5 billion.

“The challenge is to produce high-yielding seeds, while preserving genetic diversity and protecting the old indigenous landraces from potential risks and threats,” Silva said.

One way CIMMYT helps boost demand for native Mexican maize landraces is by connecting small-scale Mexican farmers with intermediaries who sell Mexican maize as a niche gourmet food. In response to recent consumer demand, top chefs in North American cities have been buying niche varieties of maize to create specialty tortillas, tlacoyos, tetelas and tamales.

“We have hundreds of thousands of seed varieties,” said Ruben Echeverria, director general of the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), which is based in Cali, Colombia.

“The challenge is beyond technical change, it’s institutional change,” he added. “What CIMMYT is doing with seed companies is the way to go.”

“The private sector eventually has to take over,” said Jim Gaffney, global biotech affairs and regulatory lead at DuPont Pioneer, which hosted the Seed Security for Food Security forum. “Wherever the seed industry is healthy and vibrant, the private sector has been involved.”

DuPont Pioneer tops the Global Index of Field Crop Seed Companies and developed its own food security targets in 2012 that it aims to meet by 2020. Since the goals were established, DuPont Pioneer says it has invested $1.2 billion in research and development, introduced 600 new products and engaged with more than 314,000 smallholder farmers.

DuPont Pioneer also sponsored the development of a Global Food Security Index, which measures food affordability, availability, quality and safety in 113 countries and which the company is using to develop economic forecasts and country reports.

“Seed security equals food security,” said John Duesing, the company’s senior research director, adding that achieving food security is the world’s greatest challenge.

Food security requires acceleration of advanced science, not just “feeding,” CIMMYT 50 delegates say

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Lindiwe Majele Sibanda of FANRPAN delivers a presentation at the CIMMYT 50th anniversary conference. CIMMYT/Alfonso Cortes
Lindiwe Majele Sibanda of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network delivers a presentation at the CIMMYT 50th anniversary conference. CIMMYT/Alfonso Cortes

MEXICO CITY (CIMMYT) – The agriculture for development sector must begin “nourishing” families with nutrition-sensitive interventions instead of focusing on “feeding,” said a leading food security expert at a conference in Mexico City hosted by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), which is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

“We’ve spent a lot of time in the last 50 years in the comfort zone of ‘feeding’,” said Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, chief executive for the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) in southern Africa.

On a panel of experts, which included researchers, policymakers, farmers and the private sector, Sibanda urged almost 1,000 delegates attending the three day conference to consider the potential risks of focusing solely on boosting yields and fortifying grains with micronutrients and vitamin A, rather than developing strategies for increased dietary diversity.

The panel also discussed topics related to agricultural research and development such as food security and nutrition, climate change, the social tensions that are both cause and result of migration, scientific developments and new technologies.

After the first day, a mixture of formal and celebratory activities at the CIMMYT research station in El Batan outside Mexico City, delegates relocated to the city to tackle such wide-ranging topics as nutrition, the newly approved portfolio for the CGIAR system of agricultural researchers to which CIMMYT belongs, funding, scientific developments, new technologies and technical innovations.

We are not yet on the right trajectory when it comes to nutrition and health outcomes, said Juergen Voegele, senior director, agriculture global practice World Bank and CGIAR System Council Chair.

“Without a CGIAR there would be 100 countries in conflict and not the 60 that we know today,” Voegele said. “The CGIAR has a major role to play in ensuring nutrition security and peace and conflict resolution.”

He said that productivity increases achieved in the 1980s and 1990s were ahead of population growth, but are currently lagging behind, leading to the necessity to increase funding for the CGIAR. Currently, for every dollar invested in the CGIAR, the return is $17, in some programs rising up to $100.

“At the current trajectory, we will not solve the world’s food challenges,” he said, adding that recent reforms have contributed much to focusing the efforts of the CGIAR towards the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals, 15 measurable targets aimed at reducing poverty, and reaffirmed the World Bank’s commitment to championing and supporting CGIAR research.

The challenges are vast, said Martin Kropff, CIMMYT’s director general. “We have more people, less land, greater demand, all in the face of climate change.”

For food prices to remain constant, annual yield gains for maize would have to increase from 1.2 percent to 1.7 percent. For wheat they would have to increase from 1.1 percent to 1.7 percent.

A new agreement signed by CIMMYT and agri-seed company Dupont Pioneer at the conference, which will use CRISPR-Cas advanced breeding technologies to develop improved crops by using the best characteristics native to the plant, aims to streamline research into plant breeding and disease.

“It has become abundantly clear that there are at least two essential ingredients to feeding a growing population –innovation and farmers — and we must do a better job of connecting the two,” said Paul Schickler, president of Dupont Pioneer

The technology will be put to use first to challenge Maize Lethal Necrosis disease in sub-Saharan Africa, which first emerged in Kenya in 2011 and affects almost a quarter of total maize production with annual losses of about $110 million and up to 90 percent yield loss on individual farms, Schickler said.

“Usually, cutting-edge technologies benefit farmers in high income countries first,” said Marianne Banziger, CIMMYT’s deputy director general, commenting on the agreement between CIMMYT and Dupont Pioneer.

“The public-private partnership allows us to extend such benefits much more rapidly to farmers in low- and middle-income countries, addressing problems they uniquely face, giving them equal opportunities. As a result, we democratize access to new technologies.”

Among many recent scientific advancements, innovative remote sensing and satellite imagery technologies for assessing the effectiveness of research results in the field are increasingly being used.

Scientist David Lobell of Stanford University said that he uses satellite images to estimate which crops are being grown by farmers and the yields they obtain. Jose Luis Araus of the University of Barcelona spoke of a virtual revolution where phenotyping assessments are moving from the ground-based time consuming assessments to much more rapid assessments using drones and airplanes.

Other scientists, such as Ken Giller from the University of Wageningen described his work evaluating farm-level technology adoption.

“The fast-growing population of Africa is pushing down farm sizes, making it less likely that food security can be achieved in the near future,” Giller said. “We need to find new approaches to ensure that the combination of off-farm and on-farm incomes achieve household food security and, more, get farmers out of poverty.”

Mexico’s sub-secretary of agriculture, Jorge Armando Narváez Narváez, was among the many international agriculture experts and government officials who spoke at the conference, emphasizing the need to have reliable and market-oriented agricultural research and development platforms.

The benefits of global agricultural research that made improved hybrid maize seeds and fertilizer available to smallholders in the 1980s were illustrated by development economist and Cornell University Ph.D. graduate Ed Mabaya, who grew up on a hillside maize-livestock farm in rural Zimbabwe.

He recounted a meeting he had with a childhood friend whose fate was to remain in the village, struggling to survive and feed his family.

Mabaya concluded that his parents’ use of improved seed and farming practices derived from agricultural research helped open a pathway out of poverty for his family, with similar experiences for other progressive farmers in the community.

Reporting by Bianca Beks, Connie Castro, Ricardo Curiel, Jennifer Johnson, Mike Listman, Genevieve Renard, Miriam Shindler and Sam Storr.

Gene bank crowdfunding campaign gains traction with commercial seed industry

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cimmyt-saveaseedEL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – A pledge of $10,000 by international plant breeding company KWS has given a big boost to an online crowdfunding initiative aiming to help maintain the world’s largest maize and wheat germplasm bank.

The campaign was launched by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this week,  to help meet its $2.3 million annual running cost.

The Save a Seed campaign, hosted on a caused-based crowdfunding platform, is attracting new donations to fill a reduction in funds from traditional donors, said Kevin Pixley, director for genetic resources at CIMMYT where the bank is located.

“The germplasm bank is a global public treasure that belongs to all of us; everyone should have the opportunity to help care for it,” he said. “A small donation now makes a big difference to meet today’s and tomorrow’s challenges.”

Germany-based KWS is joining African and Latin American seed producers and members of the general public who have donated to the bank. Contributions keep collections stocked, curated and freely available to researchers who study the genetic diversity to identify traits to improve maize and wheat.

“I hope that many others will follow us to support the CIMMYT Save a Seed crowdfunding initiative generously,” said Léon Broers, executive board member of KWS. “Conserving and extending the world’s most important seed bank for maize and wheat is crucial especially for developing countries in times of accelerating climate change and a growing world population.”

As severe weather and evolving crop diseases threaten our most important staple foods, the bank’s ability to offer scientists novel DNA tools and data management tools to unearth high-value traits from vast maize and wheat seed collections for use in breeding climate-resilient varieties is greater than ever, said Pixley.

CIMMYT’s germplasm is a genetic treasure chest with over 175,000 maize and wheat seed collections, any of which could prove to be the crucial ingredient that breeders need to combat these challenges, he said. In 2015, the bank sent more than 700,000 seed shipments free of charge to researchers in over 80 countries who work to fight disease and improve crops.

As staple foods, maize and wheat provide vital nutrients and health benefits, making up close to one-quarter of the world’s daily energy intake and contributing 27 percent of the total calories in the diets of people living in developing countries, according to FAO. The two crops are essential to agricultural scientists who are looking for ways to increase food production by 70%, the projected need to feed a global population exceeding 9 billion by 2050.

ABOUT CIMMYT

Headquartered in Mexico, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is the global leader in publicly-funded research for development for wheat and maize and for wheat- and maize-based farming systems. CIMMYT works throughout the developing world with hundreds of partners, belongs to the 15-member CGIAR System, and leads the CGIAR Research Programs on Wheat and Maize. CIMMYT receives support from national governments, foundations, development banks and other public and private agencies.staging.cimmyt.org

ABOUT KWS

KWS is one of the world’s leading plant breeding companies. In fiscal 2014/15, 4,700 employees in 70 countries generated net sales of 986 million euros and earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of  113 million euros. A company with a tradition of family ownership, KWS has operated independently for some 160 years. It focuses on plant breeding and the production and sale of seed for corn, sugarbeet, cereals, rapeseed and sunflowers. KWS uses leading-edge plant breeding methods to continuously improve yield and resistance to diseases, pests and abiotic stress. To that end, the company invested  174 million euros last fiscal year in research and development, 17.7 percent of its net sales. For more information: www.kws.com. Follow us on Twitter® at https://twitter.com/KWS_Group.

*All figures exclude the joint ventures AGRELIANT GENETICS LLC., AGRELIANT GENETICS INC. and KENFENG – KWS SEEDS CO.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Genevieve Renard

Email: g.renard@cgiar.org

Telephone: +52 1 595 114 9880

Twitter: @genevrenard

A Chat With: DuPont Pioneer president points to technology to boost yields

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New innovations will improve farming productivity said DuPont Pioneer President Schickler. Photo: CIMMYT/ Peter Lowe
New innovations will improve farming productivity said DuPont Pioneer President Paul Schickler. Photo: CIMMYT/ Peter Lowe

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Data and predictive analytics can help seeds reach their full yield by providing farmers with information and management advice, said DuPont Pioneer President Paul Schickler.

Although seed varieties possess greater genetic potential than ever before, farmers are failing to achieve maximum yield because they lack the knowledge to farm certain varieties of maize and wheat in certain locations, said Schickler who will speak at a conference to mark the 50th anniversary of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) next week.

To help farmers bridge this gap, Schickler said DuPont Pioneer has abandoned learning best practices from field trials and now uses data modelling. Simulating combinations of seeds and  unique farming practices enables smoother delivery of better information and management advice, he said.

Targeted genome editing using engineered nucleases innovations, such as Clustered, Regularly Interspaced, Short Palindromic Repeat (CRISPR) technology, are also driving DuPont Pioneer’s seed development to improve the productivity of climate- and disease-resistant crops, said Schickler.

He will deliver a talk during a session titled, “The critical role of innovation in agriculture” on Sept. 28 at the CIMMYT 50th anniversary conference which will be held from Sept. 27 to 29, 2016 in Mexico City.

He shared some views on agricultural innovation in the following interview.

Q: What is significant about CIMMYT?

There’s no denying it – we have all benefitted from CIMMYT’s scientific research and heart for innovation. Since its beginnings, CIMMYT has played a revolutionary role in global agriculture — fostering maize and wheat productivity while improving rural livelihoods and boosting farmer productivity. And, they have excelled at bringing a collaborative focus to agriculture.

As I reflect on the past 50 years of CIMMYT, I also think of one of the world’s great humanitarians and innovators – former Global Wheat Program director and Nobel laureate Noman Borlaug. Through science, he has been credited with saving 1 billion people from starvation.

At DuPont Pioneer, we have a strong appreciation for the contributions of Borlaug and CIMMYT. We have collaborated throughout its 50-year history and we look forward to 50 more.

Q: How does your area of specialization address challenges facing agriculture?

At DuPont Pioneer, we develop and supply advanced plant genetics and services to farmers to increase agricultural production and feed a growing world population. We collaborate with farmers and organizations, including CIMMYT, in more than 90 countries to apply the best of global science to develop uniquely local solutions. One thing has become abundantly clear – we can only help farmers be successful when we recognize their right to choose the best seeds, agronomic practices and tools for their operations. The “right” practices for farmers differ by geography, environment, market situation and more.

As president of DuPont Pioneer, I am immersed in issues pertaining to farmer and agricultural productivity, food and nutrition security, scientific research, product innovation and sustainability. Together with organizations like CIMMYT, we are making advancements in these areas while promoting community development and national security. Efforts to increase global food security may also support a decrease in civil unrest.

Q: What innovation do you see improving agriculture?

Innovation will continue to be critical on a global scale as we consider increasing yields and food production under the constraints of limited arable land, shrinking natural resources, and a growing population. To make sure enough healthy food is available, farmers need seeds that can thrive and are safe for people and the environment.

Every year, seed companies develop products with greater and greater genetic potential. But most customers fail to achieve the maximum yield potential of the seeds they plant. We need to help farmers bridge the gap between a product’s potential yield and its “real-world,” harvestable yield.

European Space Agency selects CIMMYT to pilot new remote sensing project

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Signing ceremony (L-R) with Pierre Defourny, Urs Schulthess, Kai Sonder, Bruno Gérard and Francelino Rodrigues giving CIMMYT access to the pilot version of the Sen2-Agri processing system and receive training on its use. Photo: Liliana Díaz Ramírez

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) has been selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) to have access to the pilot version of the Sen2-Agri processing system and receive training on its use.

As an ESA “champion user,” CIMMYT will test the ESA prototype system in Bangladesh and Mexico. These two sites cover a wide range of farming systems, from the large wheat fields of the Yaqui Valley to a more diverse system in Bangladesh, where parcel sizes can be as small as 0.05 hectares and farmers grow two to three crops per year on a single field.

“The great unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) expertise acquired by CIMMYT is very complementary to the full exploitation of the new satellite generation capabilities,” says Pierre Defourny, professor at the Université catholique de Louvain in Belgium who is leading the Sen2-Agri project. “CIMMYT’s two cases will generate products that will support our joint efforts for wheat blast monitoring in Bangladesh and improve data availability for GreenSat in Mexico.”

In the early days of remote sensing, limited availability of data was a major constraint for putting the data to good use. Basic processing of the coarse data was also time consuming and tedious.

Fortunately, this has greatly changed in recent years. Open and free satellite data, such as Landsat 8 and Sentinel 1 & 2, allow for almost weekly coverages at resolutions as fine as 10 meters. Thanks to this new speed and precision, users can now focus on applying the data, deriving information products even for small holder farmers in remote areas.

The Sentinel 2 satellites have a swath width of 290 km. Sentinel-2A is already operational, while Sentinel-2B will be launched in the spring of 2018. Together, they will be able to cover the Earth every 5 days.
The Sentinel 2 satellites have a swath width of 290 km. Sentinel-2A is already operational, while Sentinel-2B will be launched in the spring of 2018. Together, they will be able to cover the Earth every 5 days.

For example, the CIMMYT-led STARS project in Bangladesh developed an irrigation scheduling app called PANI, which uses remotely sensed data to estimate crop water use. From this data the farmer receives a simple text message on their cell phone that gives recommendations as to whether a particular field needs to be irrigated or not.

Sen2-Agri is unique compared to other systems in that it simplifies and automates satellite data processing. The system allows for semi-automated generation of products, such as cropland detection, crop classification, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and leaf area index (LAI) based on images taken periodically by satellites Sentinel-2 and Landsat 8.

A signing ceremony was held on 15 August, 2016 to seal the cooperation between ESA and CIMMYT. Bruno Gérard, Director of CIMMYT’s Sustainable Intensification Program, sees this agreement as a fundamental game changer for CIMMYT’s geo-spatial work.

“Sen2-Agri will give CIMMYT access to high spatial and temporal resolution quality imagery and related ‘know-how,’ which in turn will enable us to further develop partnership with top-notch institutions in the earth observation field,” says Gérard.

Interface of the Sen2-Agri system, which allows for a semi-automated generation of cropland, crop type, LAI and NDVI maps.
Interface of the Sen2-Agri system, which allows for a semi-automated generation of cropland, crop type, LAI and NDVI maps.

The benefits of the Sen2-Agri are likely to far extend beyond the Yaqui Valley and Bangladesh. After the pilot phase of this project, the high-resolution imagery gathered could be applied to other areas CIMMYT projects are implemented.

In combination with bio-physical and socio-economic data, this will allow CIMMYT and other organizations to improve monitoring and evaluation, better assess and understand changes and shocks in crop-based farming systems and improve technology targeting across farmer communities.

The Sen2-Agri test program is being coordinated by Urs Schulthess. Please feel free to contact him at u.schulthess@cgiar.org if you have questions about or suggestions for future applications of the system.

A Chat With: Mark Lynas – sustainable agriculture key to food security amid climate change

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Environmentalist Mark Lynas
Environmentalist Mark Lynas

Any views expressed in this article are those of the author and not of CIMMYT

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Sustainable agriculture must be adopted globally if natural ecosystems are to be protected as food production increases to feed a projected population of 9.7 billion by 2050, said author and environmentalist Mark Lynas.

An immediate move to transform overall agricultural practices is needed to overcome the challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss, said Lynas who will speak at a conference to mark the 50th anniversary of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in September.

Rather than expanding agricultural production into new terrain, Lynas, who is a visiting fellow at the Cornell Alliance for Science, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said sustainable intensification agricultural practices are preferable to boost productivity while preserving environmental equilibrium.

A former critic of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) Lynas changed his mind when he said it became clearer to him that there was a scientific consensus that genetic engineering was safe. In his current role at Cornell University, he now advises on public sector biotechnology in developing countries.

Lynas will deliver a presentation during a session entitled “Future Landscapes” at the CIMMYT 50th anniversary conference on Sept. 29, 2016.

He shared some views on the future of agriculture in the following interview.

Q: What are the key challenges the world faces?

Well, it’s become something of a cliche now to talk about how we need to double world food supply by 2050 in order to feed the growing human population. I’m keen to add an environmental perspective to this statement. We need to double world food production but at the same time to shrink the area of cultivated land in order to protect natural ecosystems. With the ongoing crises in climate change and biodiversity loss, we cannot afford to plow up the rain forests or other ecologically valuable areas, so the only viable option is to sustainably intensify existing cultivated areas, hopefully with “rewilding” of spared lands. Obviously, this is a broad-brush assertion, and there is a lot of geographical complexity and nuance underlying this, that we should not forget.

Q: How does your area of specialization address these challenges? What innovation do you see improving agriculture?

I’m particularly focused on biotechnology in agriculture, which can help improve sustainability in many ways. Basically, if you can move from chemistry to biology in addressing challenges, from water use to yield to pest control, so much the better for the environment. An example would be the use of the Bt gene, which produces a protein in the plant that is toxic only to the pest itself and harmless to everything else, including us. That’s a much more sustainable option than indiscriminate insecticide sprays that have serious environmental and health impacts. However, because of their total opposition to genetic engineering, anti-GMO campaigners end up defending continued pesticide use, which is a very strange place for supposedly green activists to be. I’ve seen this at first hand in Bangladesh with the campaign against Bt brinjal. Anti-science superstition of this sort can end up being very environmentally damaging.

Q: What outcomes would you like to see from the CIMMYT conference?

CIMMYT experts were co-authors on a recent paper,  “Reducing emissions from agriculture to meet the 2 °C target” in Global Change Biology, that challenged the agriculture sector to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions significantly — by 1 billion tons a year — in order to contribute to meeting the 2 degrees C international climate change target. I thought this was a great initiative and I would love to see more attention given to it by other stakeholders at the CIMMYT conference. I really hope it becomes a talked about target that ends up being matched with real commitments and actions in the field.

A Chat With: U.S. nutritionist Julie Miller Jones speaks out about GE crops

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  • Any views expressed in this article are those of the author and not of CIMMYT.

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Leading nutritionist Julie Miller Jones aims to bust myths about biotechnology

U.S. nutritionist Julie Miller Jones
U.S. nutritionist Julie Miller Jones

by educating the general population on the benefits she believes genetically engineered (GE) crops can play in ending extreme hunger and malnutrition.

A shift away from the perception that GE crops are unsafe for the environment and human health is needed if they are to live up to their potential to increase food production and improve nutrition to meet the needs of growing global population, said Miller Jones who will speak at a conference to mark the 50th anniversary of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in September.

Hunger and malnutrition are barriers to sustainable development, because they lead to lowered productivity, diminished health and limit the ability to improve livelihoods, she said. There are nearly 800 million people who suffer from hunger worldwide, the majority in developing countries, according to the United Nations.

A recent report released by the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine said there is no substantiated evidence that foods from GE crops are less safe than foods from non-GE crops. Miller Jones said the general public must be educated about how biotechnology can safely improve food crops and contribute to nourishing a global population projected to grow by more than 2 billion by 2050 to more than 9.7 billion.

GE technologies enable the insertion from one species to another of genetic material (DNA) responsible, for example, for the production of vitamin precursors, such as pro-vitamin A carotenoids. Specific genes from maize, daffodil or carrot, placed in a staple grain, can help address vitamin A shortages in many regions, said the nutritionist. Conventional breeding does not have this ability to insert desirable genes from one species to another, and GE technologies can therefore enhance the contribution of plant breeding in addressing significant public health problems, she said.

Miller Jones has followed wheat-breeding developments over the years. She is a big fan of Norman Borlaug, the late CIMMYT wheat breeder and 1970 Nobel Peace Prize laureate known as the Father of the Green Revolution for the high-yielding wheat varieties he produced, which are credited with saving more than a billion lives in the developing world.

Miller Jones is outspoken about the negative consequences of gluten-free diets and has written several research papers that dispel myths generated by claims that the protein found in wheat is unhealthy.

She is a certified nutrition specialist who is also a distinguished scholar and professor emeritus of nutrition of nutrition at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota. Interested in all aspects of nutrition science, she is actively involved in educating consumers against myths about nutrition and food safety. Currently, she is a scientific advisor to a number of groups such as the Healthy Grains Institute and the Grains Food Foundation that promote healthy diets and educates consumers on the benefits the right balance of grain-based foods.

Jones, who will speak during Session Five on “Future Landscapes” at the CIMMYT 50th anniversary conference on Sept. 29, 2016, shared some insights on the future of agriculture in the following interview.

Q: What is significant about CIMMYT: What role has CIMMYT played in your area of work?

CIMMYT and Norman Borlaug have always been inspirations to me ever since I began my graduate work at the University of Minnesota nearly 50 years ago. I’m interested in nutrition and feeding the world, I taught students about the Green Revolution and the achievements of Borlaug and CIMMYT in the world food supply section of my class on current issues throughout my entire academic career.

Q: What are the key challenges the world faces?

Producing enough food and communicating about the risks and benefits of anything we do. Communicating that there are risks to using GE crops, but these are assessed on a case-by-case basis.. What hasn’t been communicated effectively, so that the average person can understand and not fear the technology, is the risk of not using GE and other agricultural advancements. It’s ironic to me that those claiming to be interested in the environment often reject technologies that enable the use of fewer inputs and scarce resources and they do it in the name of the environment. All must communicate this in a non-defensive, clear way.

Q: How does your area of specialization address these challenges?

As a nutritionist and communicator, I want to work with breeders to ensure that nutrients are one of the aspects that are included in breeding programs. Further, I want to work with others to develop effective strategies to explain advancements in agriculture and plant breeding to reduce consumers’ fears and ease their acceptance and adoption.

New Publications: Study reveals new insights about machinery adoption in Bangladesh

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Local service provider Yunus operates various kinds of machinery that he offers to farmers in Barisal district, Bangladesh. Photo: S. Storr/CIMMYT
Local service provider Yunus operates various kinds of machinery that he offers to farmers in Barisal district, Bangladesh. Photo: S. Storr/CIMMYT

El Batan, MEXICO (CIMMYT) – A new study by scientists at The International Wheat and Maize Improvement Center (CIMMYT) looks at large-scale adoption practices of agricultural machinery appropriate for smallholder farmers in Bangladesh, concluding that sustained emphasis on improving infrastructure, services and assuring credit availability is necessary to facilitate adoption.

There is strong advocacy for agricultural machinery appropriate for smallholder farmers in South Asia. Such “scale-appropriate” machinery can increase returns to land and labor, but high capital investment costs make it hard for farmers to own these machines. Increasing machinery demand has resulted in relatively well-developed markets for rental services for tillage, irrigation, and post-harvest operations.

Studying households that own machinery can provide insights into the factors that facilitate or limit adoption, which can help development planners, policy makers and national and international banks to target investments more appropriately. The study “Factors associated with small-scale agricultural machinery adoption in Bangladesh: census findings,” is the first recent study to examine these practices at large scale, using the case of Bangladesh.

The paper examines the adoption information gap in Bangladesh by reviewing the country’s historical policy environment that facilitated the development of agricultural machinery markets. It then uses recent Bangladesh census data from over 800,000 farm households to identify variables associated with the adoption of the most common smallholder agricultural machinery like irrigation pumps, threshers and power tillers.

Results of the study indicate that machinery ownership is positively associated with household assets, credit availability, electrification, and road density. These findings suggest that donors and policy makers should focus not only on short-term projects to boost machinery adoption, but also emphasize improving physical and civil infrastructure and services, as well as assuring credit availability to facilitate the adoption of scale-appropriate farm machinery.

Check out this study and other recent publications from CIMMYT researchers, below:

 

  1. 13C Natural Abundance of Serum Retinol Is a Novel Biomarker for Evaluating Provitamin A Carotenoid-Biofortified Maize Consumption in Male Mongolian Gerbils. 2016. Gannon, B.; Pungarcher, I.; Mourao, L.; Davis, C.R.; Simon, P.; Pixley, K.V.; Tanumihardjo, S.A. The Journal of Nutrition 146 : 1290-1297.
  2. Does closing knowledge gaps close yield gaps? On-farm conservation agriculture trials and adoption dynamics in three smallholder farming areas in Zimbabwe. 2016. Cheesman, S.; Andersson, J.A.; Frossard, E. Journal of Agricultural Science. Online First.
  3. Factors associated with small-scale agricultural machinery adoption in Bangladesh : census findings. 2016. Mottaleb, K.A.; Krupnik, T.J.; Erenstein, O. Journal of Rural Studies 46 : 155-168.
  4. Fertilization strategies in Conservation Agriculture systems with Maize-Legume cover crops rotations in Southern Africa. 2016. Mupangwa, W.; Thierfelder, C.; Ngwira, A. Experimental Agriculture. Online First.
  5. High temperatures around flowering in maize: effects on photosynthesis and grain yield in three genotypes. 2016. Neiff, N.;Trachsel, S.; Valentinuz, O.R.; Balbi, C.N.; Andrade, H.F. Crop Science 56 : 1-11.
  6. Kenyan Isolates of Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici from 2008 to 2014 : virulence to SrTmp in the Ug99 race group and implications for breeding programs. 2016. Newcomb, M.; Olivera Firpo, P.D.; Rouse, M.N.; Szabo, L.J.; Johnson, J.; Gale, S.; Luster, D.G.; Wanyera, R.; Macharia, G.; Bhavani, S.; Hodson, D.P.; Patpour, M.; Hovmoller, M.S.; Fetch, T.G.; Yue Jin. Phytopathology 106 (7) : 729-736.
  7. Targeting drought-tolerant maize varieties in Southern Africa : a geospatial crop modeling approach using big data. 2016. Kindie Tesfaye Fantaye; Sonder, K.; Cairns, J.E.; Magorokosho, C.; Amsal Tesfaye Tarekegne; Kassie, G.; Getaneh, F.; Abdoulaye, T.; Tsedeke Abate; Erenstein, O. The International Food and Agribusiness Management Review 19 : 75-92.
  8. The adoption problem; or why we still understand so little about technological change in African agriculture. 2016. Glover, D.; Sumberg, J.; Andersson, J.A. Outlook on Agriculture 45 (1): 3-6.
  9. The effect of major income sources on rural household food (in)security : evidence from Swaziland and implications for policy. 2016. Mabuza, M.L.; Ortmann, G.F.; Wale, E.; Mutenje, M. Ecology of Food and Nutrition 55 (2) : 209-230.
  10. Weed management in maize using crop competition: a review. 2016. Mhlanga, B.; Chauhan, B.S.; Thierfelder, C. Crop Protection 88: 28-36.

CIMMYT and partners set the pace in maize and wheat research in Africa

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NAIROBI, Kenya (CIMMYT) – The recent inauguration of a new seed storage cold room at the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) research center at Kiboko in Makueni County, about 155 kilometers from the capital, adds to the top notch research establishments managed by the national partners in Africa together with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). This  successful partnership  continues to help farmers overcome crippling challenges in farming and to realize the yield potential of improved varieties.

Since its establishment in Africa, over 40 years ago, CIMMYT has prioritized high quality research work in state-of-the-art research facilities developed through long-standing partnerships with national research organizations, such as KALRO.

“If CIMMYT were to be established today, it would be headquartered in Africa because this is where smallholder farmers face the biggest challenges.  At the same time, this is the place where outstanding work is being done to help the farmers rise above the challenges, and with great success,” said Martin Kropff, CIMMYT Director General during his recent visit to Kenya.

The cold room jointly inaugurated by Kropff, and KALRO Director General, Eliud Kireger will help store high value maize seeds with an array of traits including resilience to diseases, insect-pests and climatic stresses as drought and heat, for up to 10 years, without the need for seed regeneration every year, thereby avoiding risk of contamination and use of scarce resources.  It will also help make seed readily available for distribution to national partners and seed companies to reach the farmers much faster.

Kireger conveyed his appreciation for the cold room and other research facilities established on KALRO sites, terming these achievements as “rewarding not just to KALRO and to the seed companies, but to many smallholders in Africa, who continue to be the inspiration behind every effort put into maize research and development work by KALRO and partners like CIMMYT.”

In addition to the seed storage cold room, Africa hosts the maize lethal necrosis (MLN) disease screening facility in sub-Saharan Africa. The MLN screening facility was established in 2013 at KALRO Naivasha Center in Kenya in response to the outbreak of the devastating MLN disease in eastern Africa. The facility since then has supported both the private and public institutions to screen maize germplasm for MLN under artificial inoculation and in identifying MLN tolerant/resistant lines and hybrids.

Did you know? •Over 60,000 entries have been tested at the MLN screening site in Naivasha, Kenya since 2013. • 16 private and public institutions including seed companies and national research organizations have screened their germplasm for MLN.
Combating MLN:                                                                                                                                            
• Over 60,000 entries have been tested at the MLN screening site in Naivasha, Kenya since 2013.
• 16 private and public institutions including seed companies and national research organizations have screened their germplasm for MLN. Photo: K. Kaimenyi/CIMMYT

“The MLN screening facility (also a quarantine site) has been supporting the national partners in sub-Saharan Africa, key multinational, local and regional seed companies and CGIAR centers.  This facility has become a major resource in the fight against MLN regionally,” added B.M. Prasanna, Director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program as well as the CGIAR Research Program MAIZE. “Tremendous progress has been made through this facility in the last three years. Several promising maize lines with tolerance and resistance to MLN have been identified, and used in breeding programs to develop improved maize hybrids. Already five MLN-tolerant hybrids have been released and now being scaled-up by seed companies for reaching the MLN-affected farmers in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. As many as 22 MLN-tolerant and resistant hybrids are presently undergoing national performance trials in east Africa,” remarked Prasanna.

Another major focus of CIMMYT and partners in the region is to prevent the spread of MLN from the endemic to non-endemic countries in Africa.  “This is a strong message to convey that we not only work hard to develop MLN resistant maize varieties for the farmers, but we are also very keen to control the spread of the disease” remarked Kropff during a visit to the site.

In Zimbabwe, an MLN quarantine facility has been established in 2016, in collaboration with the government. This facility is key for safe transfer of research materials, including those with MLN resistance into the currently MLN non-endemic countries in southern Africa, before they get to the partners.

In order to keep up with the emerging stresses and to accelerate development of improved maize varieties, the maize Doubled-Haploid (DH) facility was established in 2013 by CIMMYT and KALRO at the KALRO research center in Kiboko. This facility helps the breeders to significantly shorten the process of developing maize parental lines from 7–8 seasons (using conventional breeding) to just 2–3 seasons.

Over 92,000 Doubled-Haploid (DH) maize lines have been developed from CIMMYT bi-parental crosses. Photo: B. Wawa/CIMMYT
Over 92,000 Doubled-Haploid (DH) maize lines have been developed from CIMMYT bi-parental crosses. Photo: B. Wawa/CIMMYT

“Through the facility at Kiboko, we have been able to develop over 60,000 DH lines in 2015 from diverse genetic backgrounds. The DH facility also supports the national agricultural research organisations and small and medium enterprise partners in sub-Saharan Africa to fast-track their breeding work through DH lines,” said Prasanna.

For wheat research-for-development work in Africa, the largest stem rust phenotyping platform in the world sits at KALRO research center in Njoro, Kenya. The facility screens at least 50,000 wheat accessions annually from 20-25 countries. Following the emergence of the Ug99 wheat rust disease pathogen strain in Uganda, the disease spread to 13 countries in Africa. Close to 65 wheat varieties that are resistant to Ug99 stem rust disease have been released globally as a result of the shuttle breeding that includes selection from the screening site at KALRO Njoro.

“CIMMYT’s yearly investment of USD 37 million in Africa through various projects has translated into a success story because of the strong collaboration with our partners across Africa,” said Stephen Mugo, CIMMYT’s Regional Representative for Africa. He further added that “research work in Africa is not yet done. No institution, including CIMMYT, cannot do this important work alone.  We need to, and will, keep on working together with partners to improve the livelihoods of the African smallholders.”

CIMMYT DG Martin Kropff studying an MLN affected plant. Photo: K. Kaimenyi/CIMMYT
CIMMYT DG Martin Kropff studying an MLN affected plant. Photo: K. Kaimenyi/CIMMYT

 

Key funders of CIMMYT work in Africa include, the USAID, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Sygenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture, Australian Centre for International Research, CGIAR Research Program on Maize, Foreign Affairs Trade and Development Canada.

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Education, supportive policies key to making biotechnology work for Africa

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NAIROBI, Kenya – Increasing public understanding of genetically modified crops and creating supportive policies were key recommendations made at a session on boosting Africa’s use of biotechnology at the 7th Africa Agricultural Science Week.

CIMMYT breeder Jumbo Bright evaluates a maize ear at the Kiboko Research Station in Kenya. CIMMYT applies modern breeding technologies to develop improved varieties that are tolerant and/or resistant to various stresses. Photo: B. Wawa/CIMMYT
CIMMYT breeder Jumbo Bright evaluates a maize ear at the Kiboko Research Station in Kenya. CIMMYT applies modern breeding technologies to develop improved varieties that are tolerant and/or resistant to various stresses. Photo: B. Wawa/CIMMYT

With the population of sub-Saharan Africa projected to reach between 1.5 and 2 billion by 2050 and agriculture struggling to adapt to climate change, the pressure to meet the increasing demand for staple foods, including maize and wheat, has raised interest in biotechnology’s ability to boost yields.

Despite a recent U.S. National Academy of Science study concluding that genetically engineered crops are safe to grow and eat, and growing support for the use of genetically modified (GM) crops, there continues to be controversy around biotechnology.

The African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) hosted a session on “Taking GM crops to market in sub-Saharan Africa: Special focus on policy and regulatory environment,” to discuss policy challenges to biotechnology in Africa.

Participants recommended raising public understanding of biotechnology through farmer and consumer education while enhancing functional policy and regulatory systems to facilitate testing and uptake of demand-driven GM products. The recommendations were to be presented to policymakers in the region.

At the session, Stephen Mugo, CIMMYT principal breeder and regional representative for Africa, spoke on biotechnology’s ability to improve conventional breeding.

“Genetic modification can be used in specific cases, for example, when a trait is very difficult to improve by conventional breeding methods or when it will take a very long time to introduce and/or improve such trait in the crop using conventional breeding methods,” said Mugo. “The use of biotechnology can maximize yield gains in ways that are compatible with human and environmental safety.” Hence, farmers should be given a chance to benefit from GM crops because they could increase their opportunities, productivity and efficiency.

Although GM crops have been grown across the globe for the last 20 years, only three African countries — Burkina Faso, South Africa and Sudan — currently grow them. This is largely due to the controversy and ambivalence surrounding biotechnology policies, with most countries taking a precautionary approach towards adopting biotechnology.

As Francis Nang’ayo, AATF head of Regulatory Affairs said, “Most African countries have taken a precautionary policy position on GM technology borrowed largely from the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, which many countries signed, and which was primarily adopted to ensure environmental conservation.”

This, alongside other factors, such as their commitment to abide by other international conventions and the debate on GM technology, are keeping most African countries from adopting policies that support biotechnology. Nang’ayo added that most countries have adopted stringent regulatory frameworks governing different GM processes and that this apparent overregulation has inhibited advancement of GM technology into the hands of farmers.

However, there has been notable progress in countries such as Kenya, which recently approved the environmental release of genetically transformed maize that carries genes from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) following an application submitted to the National Biosafety Authority by AATF and the Kenya Agricultural Livestock and Research Organization under the Water Efficient Maize for Africa project. This is expected to serve as a litmus test for many African countries that are already conducting confined field trials of GM crops.

Still, most African smallholder farmers have no knowledge of or access to biotechnology. According to Gilbert Bor, a farmer from Kapseret in northwest Kenya, “Many farmers know and understand that seeds in our fields are from science and research, so new and innovative technologies including biotechnology need to trickle down to farmers once proven safe. If such a technology promises farmers improved productivity, income and livelihood, and the likelihood of reducing use of pesticide and insecticide, then it’s important that farmers and consumers are educated and informed.”

Building a sustainable future: A history of conservation agriculture in southern Africa

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This story is one of a series of features written during CIMMYT’s 50th anniversary year to highlight significant advancements in maize and wheat research between 1966 and 2016.

HARARE, Zimbabwe (CIMMYT) — When practiced unsustainably, agriculture has led to environmental degradation and famine, which have plagued civilizations through the centuries. Innovations such as irrigation or the plow (since circa 6,000 and 3,000 BC) increased productivity, but often deteriorated long-term soil fertility through erosion and other forms of degradation.

We are now facing historically unprecedented challenges to food security. We must increase food production by 70 percent to feed nine billion people by 2050, without damaging our finite and often already degraded natural resource base. In addition, farmers face more frequent drought and water scarcity, which makes it increasingly difficult to grow crops, and extreme weather events such as the 2015-2016 El Niño, which has already caused large-scale crop failures and soaring maize prices in southern Africa.

Conservation agriculture (CA) practices based on the principles of minimal soil disturbance, permanent soil cover and crop rotation are helping farmers combat growing environmental challenges by maintaining and boosting yields, while protecting the environment and increasing profits for smallholders globally. When CA practices are coupled with water-use efficient and drought tolerant varieties, the benefits are even greater.

Drought is increasingly common in Malawi, leaving an estimated three million people in need of urgent humanitarian food assistance this year alone. However, a fortunate few will escape hunger, including more than 400 farmers and their families in Balaka, southern Malawi, who have been practicing CA over the last 12 years. "Few farmers have livestock in Balaka, so crop residues can be kept on the fields instead of feeding them to cattle," according to Thierfelder, who says Malawi presents a good case for conservation agriculture. CIMMYT and its strategic development partner Total LandCare have helped more than 65,000 farmers adopt CA systems throughout the entire country. Above, SIMLESA lead farmer Agnes Sendeza harvests maize ears on her farm in Tembwe, Salima District, Malawi. Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT
Drought is increasingly common in Malawi, leaving an estimated 3 million people in need of urgent humanitarian food assistance this year alone. However, more than 400 farmers and their families in Balaka, southern Malawi, who have been practicing CA over the last 12 years will escape hunger. CIMMYT and its partner Total LandCare have helped more than 65,000 farmers adopt CA systems throughout the entire country. Above, SIMLESA lead farmer Agnes Sendeza harvests maize ears on her farm in Tembwe, Salima District, Malawi. Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT

“CA approaches can mean the difference between farmers being able to feed their families or having to starve,” says Christian Thierfelder, senior cropping systems agronomist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), regarding the recent El Niño – the strongest on record – in southern Africa. To date, approximately 10 million people in southern Africa are dependent on food aid and an estimated 50 million people are projected to be affected, pushing them to the brink of starvation.

Sustainable intensification of agricultural systems and practices such as CA have become a necessity for farmers in Africa, where a combination of climate change and unsustainable agricultural practices are undermining land and water resources. This, coupled with an exploding population, makes increasing productivity while conserving the environment absolutely urgent.

Based on its experience in Latin America, which began in the early 1990s, CIMMYT started its first CA project in Africa in 2004, targeting Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. This initial work focused on understanding CA systems in the context of farmers and their environmental conditions and was funded by the German government and the International Fund for Agriculture Development. Its aim was to facilitate the adoption of CA systems by smallholder farmers. This culminated in the establishment in 2009 of a large PAN-African project on Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Systems in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA).

Farmers in Shamva District, Zimbabwe, are introduced to an animal traction direct seeder which allows seeding and fertilizing directly into crop residues with minimum soil disturbance. Labor-saving sowing systems are a key benefit for labor-constrained farmers and provide an entry point for CA adoption and outscaling. Photo: Thierfelder/CIMMYT
Farmers in Shamva District, Zimbabwe, are introduced to an animal traction direct seeder which allows seeding and fertilizing directly into crop residues with minimum soil disturbance. Photo: Thierfelder/CIMMYT

Since then, CIMMYT has leveraged its large network of partners to scale out CA. Between 2010 and 2015, CIMMYT, supported by a large group of donors including the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the United States Agency for International Development and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, helped over 173,000 farming households in the region adopt sustainable intensification practices.

Today, CA research at CIMMYT in Africa is increasingly focused on adaptation to the changing climate, which is leading to more erratic rainfall, increased heat stress and seasonal dry spells, in an effort to increase the use of climate-resilient cropping systems. CIMMYT’s work on CA in the region has shown that the practice can significantly increase farmers’ resilience to climate variability and change. Combining sustainable intensification practices with improved varieties has proved to increase productivity by 30-60 percent and income by 40-100 percent under drought conditions.

Despite CA’s successes, many smallholder farmers in developing countries still lack knowledge and understanding of sustainable agricultural practices and often revert to traditional farming practices that are labor-intensive and environmentally damaging. Also, CA systems are difficult to scale out if favorable policies and markets are not in place.

Araujo Njambo (right), a smallholder maize farmer in Mozambique, was used to the traditional way of farming that his family has practiced for generations, which required clearing a plot of land and burning all plant residues remaining on the soil to get a clean seedbed. However, as demand for land increases, this fuels deforestation and depletes soil nutrients. CIMMYT has been working with farmers like Njambo since 2006 to adapt sustainable intensification practices like CA to his circumstances. In remote areas of Mozambique, where Njambo’s farm is located, CA systems provide significant benefits during dry spells because farmers have no access to irrigation and depend only on rainfall. In the 2013-2014 cropping season, Njambo harvested his best maize yield in the last six years thanks to CA. Photo: Christian Thierfelder/CIMMYT
Araujo Njambo (right), a smallholder maize farmer in Mozambique, was used to the traditional way of farming that his family has practiced for generations, which required clearing a plot of land and burning all plant residues remaining on the soil to get a clean seedbed. However, as demand for land increases, this fuels deforestation and depletes soil nutrients. CIMMYT has been working with farmers like Njambo since 2006 to adapt sustainable intensification practices like CA to his circumstances. In the 2013-2014 cropping season, Njambo harvested his best maize yield in the last six years thanks to CA. Photo: Christian Thierfelder/CIMMYT

Mineral fertilizer, for example, is a basic agricultural input, but its adoption and use remain limited in sub-Saharan Africa. Farmers apply less than 10 kilograms per hectare on average due mainly to poor distribution networks (especially in rural areas) and high prices that are 3-5 times those in Europe. Lack of knowledge and training on how to use mineral fertilizer and other agricultural inputs renders them ineffective.

New discoveries in agriculture and breeding must be adaptable and transferable to smallholder farmers. This means improving physical distribution of technologies, training, knowledge and information sharing, credit availability and creating enabling environments for growth.

Just before passing away in September 2009, world-renowned agricultural scientist Norman Borlaug famously implored the world to “take it to the farmer” – a call to action we must follow if we are to sustainably feed the world by 2050. Without a basic understanding of good agricultural practices, most smallholder farmers will not be able to grow enough crops to move past subsistence farming.

Grain yield from a conservation agriculture demonstration plot in Zomba District, Malawi, is measured precisely as part of CIMMYT’s research on the combined benefits of drought tolerant maize and CA. Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT
Grain yield from a conservation agriculture demonstration plot in Zomba District, Malawi, is measured precisely as part of CIMMYT’s research on the combined benefits of drought tolerant maize and CA. Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT

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Seeding the future: Emergency support for drought-affected farmers in Ethiopia

Written by on . Posted in Features.

Stocks of maize seed have been certified for quality and are now ready to be distributed to farmers in Ethiopia's drought-affected districts. Photo: Tadele Asfaw/CIMMYT
Stocks of maize seed have been certified for quality and are now ready to be distributed to farmers in drought-affected districts. Photo: Tadele Asfaw/CIMMYT

As the Rio 2016 Olympics draw near, team managers are rushing to recruit their best sportspeople from all over the country, put them through fitness tests, and get them to various stadiums before the starter’s gun goes off.

The team working on the Emergency Seed Support for Drought Affected Maize and Wheat Growing Areas of Ethiopia initiative is facing a similar challenge. But instead of recruiting long jumpers and marathon runners, they are tasked with procuring quality seeds of elite maize, wheat, and sorghum varieties and distributing them to farmers before the start of the main planting season to increase food security in regions devastated by recent droughts.

Dry conditions are not uncommon in Ethiopia, but the 2015-2016 El Niño – the strongest on record – has led to the worst drought in a decade. Harvests across Ethiopia were affected, leaving 10.2 million people – more than 1 in 10 Ethiopians – in need of emergency food assistance.

Food security status across Ethiopia. Source: Fews.Net
Food security status across Ethiopia. Source: Fews.Net

Planning for a food-secure future

The government of Ethiopia and international organizations are working to provide food aid for people facing immediate shortages, but Bekele Abeyo, senior wheat breeder and pathologist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) for sub-Saharan Africa and leader of the emergency seed project, is focusing on a more sustainable future.

“Relief efforts will provide sustenance today, but we need to ensure there is also food on plates tomorrow,” says Abeyo. “With the large crop losses experienced in 2015, farmers were not able to save seed for planting in 2016 and did not have sufficient income to purchase more. Unless these farmers are able to access seed, we may face further shortages in 2017.”

CIMMYT, with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development, is working with partners to supply over 2,700 tons of seed to more than 226,000 households across 71 woredas (districts) in four regions of Ethiopia. CIMMYT will work with both the formal seed sector and farmers’ cooperatives to source quality seed from within Ethiopia and make sure it reaches the farmers who need it the most. These high-yielding, drought resistant varieties are being supplied along with agronomic advice to further increase farmers’ resilience.

Together with Ethiopia’s Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA), a primary partner in the project, CIMMYT organized workshops in each of the target regions –Amara, Oromia, Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s Region (SNNPR), and Tigray – to engage stakeholders and collectively finalize the workplan. Based on participant feedback, some sorghum will now also be supplied to selected regions, in addition to maize and wheat.

“It is important to consider the needs of the individual communities and regions,” says Yitbarek Semeane, director of ATA’s Seed Systems. “ATA has very strong links with the regions and government institutions so is able to provide feedback on farmers’ needs and preferences. As weather patterns in Ethiopia are becoming increasingly unpredictable, many farmers are changing their farming practices, or even switching crops.”

Seed is being distributed to 240 drought-affected farmers in the kebele of Ubobracha. Photo: E. Quilligan/CIMMYT
Seed is being distributed to 240 drought-affected farmers in the kebele of Ubobracha. Photo: E. Quilligan/CIMMYT

A race against time

With the main planting season rapidly approaching, the team is racing to source, procure, certify, transport and distribute seeds.

“The success of this project will depend on us procuring enough quality seed and distributing it to farmers before the main planting season,” says Tadele Asfaw, CIMMYT-Ethiopia program management officer and member of the project’s Seed Procurement Committee.

By mid-April, the team had successfully procured almost all the required maize and sorghum seeds and were navigating the complex logistics to get the requested varieties to each woreda. Agreements are also being signed with farmers’ cooperatives to ensure that wheat seed can be purchased without disrupting the normal seed system.

According to Ayele Badebo, CIMMYT scientist and wheat seed coordinator for the project, CIMMYT does not have the capacity to collect seed from individual farmers within each woreda, but this is something the cooperatives are ideally placed to do. They have the trust of both CIMMYT and farmers, and through the previous seed scaling project, they know which farmers were given seed to multiply and will now have it available for sale.

At the end of March, the seed procurement team traveled to eastern Oromia – one of the areas most affected by the 2015 drought – to meet with Chercher oda bultum, a farmers’ cooperative and seed supplier. The team was very satisfied to see that the supplier had sufficient stock of Melkassa2 and Melkassa4, locally-adapted drought resistant maize varieties that had already been certified for germination and moisture by another collaborator, Haramaya University. This same process is now underway for wheat seed.

Ethiopia’s Bureaus of Agriculture and Natural Resources are also working with woreda representatives to ensure that the seed will be distributed to those farmers who need it most, and who have sufficient land and agronomic tools to benefit from this initiative.

“Working with local enterprises and partners enables us to procure and deliver seed to drought-affected farmers as quickly as possible,” says Abeyo. “In combination with CIMMYT’s longer-term efforts in the region, we hope that we can foster a more robust seed system and increase food security for 2016 and beyond.”

The meeting room at ATA was a hive of activity as farmers’ unions met to negotiate transport of emergency seed. Photo: Emma Quilligan/CIMMYT
The meeting room at ATA was a hive of activity as farmers’ unions met to negotiate transport of emergency seed. Photo: Emma Quilligan/CIMMYT
Partnering for success
While CIMMYT has the knowledge, networks and experience in Ethiopia to spring into action, the cooperation of partners such as the Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA), farmers’ unions and Ethiopia’s Bureaus of Agriculture and Natural Resources is vital.
Established in 2010, the ATA is acting as a catalyst to spur the growth and transformation of Ethiopia’s agriculture sector. With funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, ATA is working with the Ministry and Regional Bureaus of Agriculture and Natural Resources to coordinate the collection, cleaning, packing, labeling and distribution of quality seed to drought-affected farmers, as well as help train development agents and raise farmer awareness.

New Publications: Advances in breeding for future climates

Written by on . Posted in Publications.

Farmer-surrounded-by-wheat
Photo: Ranak Martin/CIMMYT

CIMMYT scientists have made progress in breeding for early-maturing and heat-tolerant wheat lines in South Asia according to a recently published study. Maintaining wheat productivity under increasing temperatures and decreasing water availability in South Asia is a challenge. Warmer temperatures have already been determined to be one of the major factors in slowing the wheat productivity growth in South Asia, with estimated grain yield losses at 6 to 10% per ◦C rise in temperature.

In response, CIMMYT researchers focused on developing early maturing wheat lines as an adaptive mechanism in regions suffering from terminal heat stress and those areas that require wheat adapted to shorter cycles under continual high temperature stress. Each year from 2009 to 2014, 28 newly developed early-maturing high-yielding CIMMYT wheat lines were evaluated across locations in South Asia. A positive trend was observed while estimating the breeding progress across five years for high-yielding early-maturing heat tolerant wheat compared to the local checks in South Asia, suggesting early maturity has the potential to improve adaptation and maintenance of genetic gains in South Asia. Read the full study “Grain yield, adaptation and progress in breeding for early-maturing and heat-tolerant wheat lines in South Asia” here.

Another recently released study on physiological breeding reveal opportunities for more precise breeding strategies and feed models of genotype-by-environment interaction to help build new plant types and experimental environments for future climates. Physiological breeding crosses parents with different complex but complementary traits to achieve cumulative gene action for yield, while selecting progeny using remote sensing, possibly in combination with genomic selection. Among other findings, the study concludes that new crop designs capitalize on over half a century of physiological research, remote sensing allows evaluation of genetic resources for complex trait expression, and genetic and physiological dissection of complex traits enables better crosses. Read the full study “Physiological breeding” here.