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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.

Sustainable agriculture takes root in Karnataka, India

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H.S. Sidhu, senior research engineer, BISA, demonstrating laser land leveler technology. Photo: Yogehs Kumar/CIMMYT
H.S. Sidhu, senior research engineer, BISA, demonstrating laser land leveler technology.
Photo: Yogehs Kumar/CIMMYT

DHARWAD, INDIA — Nearly 150 scientists, researchers and extension agents from universities and agricultural departments across the state of Karnataka, India, attended a field training 12-13 April on conservation agriculture and farm mechanization for sustainable intensification. The training was hosted by the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Dharwad, Karnataka, and jointly organized by CIMMYT, UAS and Karnataka’s Department of Agriculture.

South Asia is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change. Flooding and drought coupled with seasonal rainfall changes are predicted to devastate agriculture, with extreme heat already disrupting the growing season in India and other countries. Wheat production in India’s Indo-Gangetic Plains may decrease by up to 50 percent by 2100, harming the hundreds of millions who rely on the region for food security. India also extracts more groundwater than any other country in the world to support agriculture, with northern India’s groundwater declining one meter every three years.

Karnataka faces these and other challenges, including production system constraints, mono-cropping and lack of access to markets, storage facilities, processing units and real-time information. Other constraints include large post-harvest losses, labor and energy shortages, poor mechanization and fodder scarcity.

J.V. Goud, Ex Vice Chancellor, UAS, Dharwad, described these challenges in his inaugural address and emphasized the need for sustainable agriculture practices to achieve food security in India.

“Courses like this help combat climate anomalies and make agriculture practices drought-proof,” said Goud. Sustainable practices have proven successful in addressing water shortages in agriculture. For example, trainees were introduced to precision land leveling, which can raise India’s wheat yields more than 16% and increase water productivity by 130%.

Training attendees. Photo: UAS-Dharwad
Training attendees. Photo: UAS-Dharwad

According to M.L. Jat, CIMMYT senior cropping systems agronomist and an expert in conservation agriculture (CA), “Climate-smart agriculture practices such as CA not only minimize production costs and inputs, but also help farmers adapt to extreme weather events, reduce temporal variability in productivity, and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, This is backed up by ample data on conservation agriculture management practices throughout the region.”

Conservation agriculture is sustainable and profitable agriculture based on minimal soil disturbance, permanent soil cover and crop rotations. It is improving farmers’ livelihoods throughout South Asia and has led to policy-level impacts through the implementation of CA practices covered in the training, such as precision land leveling, zero tillage, direct seeding and crop residue management.

Trainees were taught how to operate a variety of CA machines, including multi-crop zero-tillage machines that can calibrate the amount of seed and fertilizer and control speed for seeding different crops. They also learned about other practices such as weed, nutrient and water management using precision support and sensors.

Scientists and researchers who imparted the training included Jat, CIMMYT agronomist H.S. Jat, CIMMYT hub manager S.G. Patil, CIMMYT consultant Yogesh Kumar Singh, Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) senior research engineer H.S. Sidhu, BISA senior scientist R.K. Jat and Deputy Director of the International Plant Nutrition Institute’s India Program-South Zone, T. Satyanarayana.

 

Genetically engineered crops safe to grow and eat, U.S. National Academy of Sciences concludes

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A Kenyan man holds a harvest of a genetically engineered (GE) maize at the Kari research station in Kiboko, Makueni County. Photo: Nation Media Group Kenya
A Kenyan man holds a harvest of a genetically engineered (GE) maize at the Kari research station in Kiboko, Makueni County. Photo: Nation Media Group Kenya

EL BATAN, MEXICO (CIMMYT) — Genetically engineered (GE) crops are as safe to eat as conventionally bred crops and have benefited the environment and ecosystem diversity by reducing pesticide use, according to a study released by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) earlier this month.

Conducted by a committee of 20 scientists chosen by the NAS to represent diverse disciplines relevant to the topic, the study brought together ample and broad-ranging evidence from the last 20 years, the period since the first commercial release of GE crops, regarding their impacts on yields, the abundance and diversity of insects, insecticide and herbicide use, the development of resistance to agrochemicals in weeds and pests, human and animal health and various other aspects of concern to society.

The committee collectively read 900 studies and publications, listened to 80 speakers at public meetings and webinars and reviewed over 700 comments and documents submitted by the public on GE crops past, present and future.

“Consumers and stakeholders have made diverse claims about GE crops, ranging from ‘they cause cancer’ to ‘we cannot feed the world without them,’” said Kevin Pixley, director of the Genetic Resources Program at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and member of the committee authoring the report. “The report is both retrospective and forward-looking; it openly considers all credible views and evidence, and provides findings and recommendations on a wide range of issues pertinent to GE and future novel crops.”

Regarding health concerns, the committee found no conclusive evidence that GE crops have contributed to obesity, diabetes, kidney disease, autism, celiac disease or food allergies. The report also states that there is “no conclusive evidence of cause-and-effect relationships between GE crops and environmental problems.”

The committee raised a red flag regarding weed and insect species developing resistance to commonly used herbicides and pesticides where farmers had grown GE crops without following proper practices to avoid this development. The authors noted that these issues are not unique to GE crops and said they deserved special attention and research.

brenda photo
Anne Maritim, 52 year old widow from Labotiet village in Bomet County in Kenya in her field planted with Drought Tego variety, a conventional drought tolerant variety that is high-yielding and early maturing. Photo: Brenda Wawa/CIMMYT

“The report contains a wealth of information about GE crops that enables readers to delve into the issues and topics of greatest interest or concern,” said Pixley. “Sweeping conclusions about GE crops are few, because the issues are multidimensional and often viewed differently by each individual.”

For the last 20 years some publics have waged a war on GE crops and urged they be banned from production. As one result, virtually no GE crops have been grown in most of Europe and calls for stricter labeling on GE products have also been made in countries including the United States and Canada.

The report states that regulators should not focus on genetic engineering or the process by which new crops are bred, but rather perform safety testing on individual products, based on their novelty and potential for adverse health or environmental effects.

Along the same lines, the study observed that a variety of new technologies, including gene-editing techniques, such as CRISPR/Cas9, which allow researchers quickly and efficiently to edit, cut out, and replace genes, are blurring the distinction between genetic engineering and conventional plant breeding.

“This is similar to the blurring of the differences between what we have been able do with our cell phones and computers over the last 20 years,” explained Pixley.

Included in the report is a list of traits, including those which can enhance nutritional value, food safety, forage quality and post-harvest storage, that are being or will likely be bred into future varieties using an expanding toolbox that includes genetic engineering, gene editing, genomic selection and others.

“This report provides a fresh perspective and proposes a conceptual framework for managing potential health or environmental risks of novel crop traits, regardless of which process or technology is used to breed them into our crops,” said Pixley “Genetic engineering and other emerging technologies offer options for plant breeders to meet the crop production and food security challenges of this and future generations.”

 

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Annual meeting highlights adoption of conservation agriculture in Sichuan, China

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Chaosu explains the operation and results of the Chinese-made Turbo Happy Seeder to an enthusiastic group of researchers and farmers at a conservation agriculture demonstration site near Santai, Mianyang, Sichuan Province. Photo: Jack McHugh/ CIMMYT
Chaosu explains the operation and results of the Chinese-made Turbo Happy Seeder to an enthusiastic group of researchers and farmers at a conservation agriculture demonstration site near Santai, Mianyang, Sichuan Province. Photo: Jack McHugh/CIMMYT

CHENGDU, CHINA – The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), in collaboration with the Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Science (SAAS) is expanding conservation agriculture (CA) practices to promote sustainable intensification (SI) (i.e., agriculture aimed at enhancing the productivity of labor, land and capital) in China’s Sichuan Province.

Sustainable intensification can simultaneously address a number of pressing development objectives, including adapting production systems to climate change, sustainably managing land, soil, nutrient and water resources, improving food and nutrition security and ultimately reducing rural poverty. Zero tillage (ZT) minimizes soil disturbance, provides continual residue soil cover and includes crop rotations, all of which increases soil fertility and water use efficiency and helps cereal farmers sustain their crop yields over the long term.

As part of a joint CA project with CIMMYT, Tang Yonglu, Dean of the Crop Research Institute, SAAS, and his team have promoted sustainable mechanization and residue management, incorporated farmer input and hosted demonstrations in the rainfed regions of Sichuan. As a result, farmers from Mianyang District in Sichuan are now interested in ZT; a plan was thus put in place to build capacity and help farmers plant ZT maize and rice in May and June 2016.

Chaosu inspects an immature ZT wheat field affected by frost. This crop will be followed by ZT mechanically transplanted rice into the standing residue in late May. Previously, rice was manually transplanted by women following conventional inversion tillage. This new planting scheme tested by CIMMYT in north western China will save 1-2 weeks and considerable input costs for the new ZT farmers in south west China. Photo: Jack McHugh/ CIMMYT
Chaosu inspects an immature ZT wheat field affected by frost. This crop will be followed by ZT mechanically transplanted rice into the standing residue in late May. Previously, rice was manually transplanted by women following conventional inversion tillage. This new planting scheme tested by CIMMYT in Northwestern China will save 1-2 weeks and considerable input costs for the new ZT farmers in Southwest China. Photo: Jack McHugh/CIMMYT

At an annual SAAS-CIMMYT meeting, Tang’s team presented their findings on the effect soil compaction and waterlogging have on wheat production. Soil compaction occurs when random wheeling over cropping areas of farm vehicles, such as tractors and harvesters, packs the soil so tightly that soil conditions deteriorate, reducing crop yields. Waterlogging caused by flooding or intense rain on degraded soils also negatively affects yields.

At the meeting, CIMMYT proposed managing soil compaction through controlled traffic farming (CTF), an essential ZT practice that alleviates soil degradation. CTF permanently separates the crop area and the traffic lanes, thereby avoiding vehicle-induced soil compaction and improving and sustaining soil health. SAAS plans on implementing CTF as one tool in its sustainable intensification efforts.

During the two-day event, local researchers presented their academic and work reports and attended a field demonstration on advances in ZT mechanization; technical training sessions for farmers were also held. Other researchers addressed subjects such as soil health, weed control, sustainable techniques for rainfed wheat and mechanization techniques for rainfed maize.

Field demonstrations compared the performance of crops sown using locally produced one-pass planting machines and the Chinese made Turbo Happy Seeder. It was the first time participating researchers and farmers had seen a demonstration of the Happy Seeder. The Chinese seeder minimizes soil disturbance and uses devices that block residue, which makes it very useful for planting irrigated and rainfed crops when high levels of residue are maintained in the fields. For the locally produced machines to operate successfully, they require low levels of residue on the soil surface or that residues be incorporated into the soil.

Differences in planting machinery performance were difficult to discern in the wheat fields, due to yield losses across the region as a result of a very cold period in January. What was apparent was that while all the machines were equally effective in terms of crop establishment, there appeared to be slight differences in water stress in crops sown by the rotary till planter (high soil disturbance) and the non-rotary planter (low soil disturbance). This improvement in crop soil water was not lost on the participants as they strolled through the fields while listening to Li Chaosu, senior researcher at the Crop Research Institute, SAAS, explain the results.

CIMMYT SAAS collaboration is set to expand in the mountainous regions of Sichuan Province later this year, when new farmers come on board to implement ZT rice transplanting. The Green Farming Association, in collaboration with the local Agricultural Mechanization Bureau based in Santai, is also forging ahead with its conservation agriculture plans with CIMMYT’s guidance and support.

 

 

Harnessing maize biodiversity for food security, improved livelihoods in Africa

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STMA PostcardHARARE (CIMMYT) — As CIMMYT joins the world in celebrating the International Day for Biological Diversity on 22 May, it can take pride in the diverse maize varieties it develops which have improved the livelihoods and health of smallholder farmers globally.

These varieties have brought tremendous benefits to smallholders in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Over 90 percent of agricultural production in SSA is rainfed, which puts farmers at risk for drought and heat in addition to the poor soil fertility, pests and diseases they face. Drought alone damages about 40 percent of all maize crops in SSA, endangering the livelihoods and food security of millions of smallholder farmers.

Stress tolerant maize not only reduces risks for farmers in the face of unpredictable environmental and biological conditions, it also allows more stable crop production. The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) breeds high-yielding, locally-adapted maize varieties with farmer-preferred traits such as drought tolerance, nitrogen use efficiency, and disease and insect pest resistance. Many of these varieties also have increased nutritional traits such as high protein quality and increased provitamin A content, which help increase children’s weight and height growth rates and reduce childhood blindness.

“Since working with CIMMYT, we have unlocked our production potential, ‘’ said Sylvia Horemans, Marketing Director of Zambian-based Kamano Seeds. Since its establishment in 2012, Kamano Seeds has benefitted from CIMMYT to strengthen its work in maize breeding besides technical support on maize seed production and marketing. Photo: Johnson Siamachira/CIMMYT
“Since working with CIMMYT, we have unlocked our production potential,” says Sylvia Horemans, marketing director of Zambia-based Kamano Seeds. Since 2012 Kamano Seeds has benefitted from CIMMYT to strengthen its work in maize breeding, seed production and marketing. Photo: CIMMYT

“Increasing adoption of these stress tolerant maize varieties is helping African farmers cope with drought and climate change, improve yields at household level and thereby enhance the livelihoods and food security of tens of millions of farmers,” said Cosmos Magorokosho, CIMMYT-Southern Africa maize breeder.

These drought-tolerant varieties have proven resistant despite harsh conditions brought on in southern Africa by an intense El Niño, according to Magorokosho. “Significant impacts have been observed in plots of smallholder farmers who grow these varieties.”

In 2014, over 54,000 metric tons of certified seed of the stress tolerant maize varieties were produced and delivered by partner seed companies for planting by smallholders. By the end of that year, more than five million smallholders had planted the improved drought tolerant varieties on over two million hectares, benefiting more than 40 million people in 13 countries in SSA.

Today, there are more than 200 stress tolerant maize varieties that yield the same or more than commercial varieties under average rainfall, and more importantly, produce up to 30 percent more than commercial varieties under moderate drought conditions. Armed with these improved varieties, CIMMYT is assuming a greater role to ensure stress tolerant maize reaches nearly five and a half million smallholder households in SSA by the end of 2019.

“The rain is very little here, but even with a little rain, this seed does well,” says a smallholder farmer Philip Ngolania, in south-central Kenya, referring to a drought-tolerant maize variety he planted during the 2015 crop season. “Without this seed, I would have nothing. Nothing, like my neighbours who did not use the variety." Photo: Johnson Siamachira/CIMMYT
“Even with a little rain, this seed does well,” says a smallholder farmer Philip Ngolania, in south-central Kenya, referring to a drought-tolerant maize variety he planted during the 2015 crop season. “Without this seed, I would have nothing. Nothing, like my neighbours who did not use the variety.” Photo: Johnson Siamachira/CIMMYT

“In close collaboration with our partners, we were able to create excitement about what can be achieved with drought tolerant maize in Africa,” said Tsedeke Abate, leader of CIMMYT’s Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa project. CIMMYT is working with national agricultural research systems, international research centers, and other development programs to disseminate improved maize seed to smallholder farmers in SSA through small-and medium-sized seed companies.

“The work we have undertaken on drought tolerant maize has created significant impacts. However, several challenges still remain,” cautioned B.M. Prasanna, Director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program and the CGIAR Research Program MAIZE. One of these challenges is maize lethal necrosis (MLN), which emerged in Kenya in 2011 and has since devastated maize crops across East Africa. CIMMYT is working to generate improved stress tolerant maize varieties with resistance to MLN and other major diseases.

Maize production in Africa is growing rapidly, making maize the most widely cultivated crop on the continent, and the staple food of more than 300 million people. Providing farmers with diverse, improved seed choices will thus strengthen food security, health and livelihoods in SSA.

New Publications: Maize Lethal Necrosis survey reveals farmer impact, future needs

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NAIROBI, Kenya (CIMMYT) – When a strange maize disease suddenly appeared in 2011 in Bomet, a small town 230 kilometers (143 miles) west of Kenya’s capital city, Nairobi, scientists from CIMMYT and Kenya Agricultural Livestock and Research Organization were thrown into disarray. The disease, later identified as Maize Lethal Necrosis (MLN), became a nightmare for maize scientists leading many to work around the clock to find a solution to stop its rapid spread. As intensive research and screening work started, it became apparent that there was a dire need to fill a glaring information gap on the disease, particularly regarding MLN’s geographic distribution, the number of farmers affected, the levels of yield loss and the impact of those losses.

To address this gap, surveys were conducted with groups of male and female farmers in over 120 sub-locations of Kenya’s maize production zones in a recent study “Community-survey based assessment of the geographic distribution and impact of maize lethal necrosis (MLN) disease in Kenya.”  The results estimate maize losses from MLN at half a million tons per year with the highest losses reported in western Kenya.  The study identified an urgent need to develop improved maize varieties resistant to MLN and emphasized the need for farmers to be informed and adapt appropriate agronomic practices to cope with the disease.

Read more about this research and other related studies on MLN from CIMMYT Scientists.

  • Community-survey based assessment of the geographic distribution and impact of maize lethal necrosis (MLN) disease in Kenya. 2016. Hugo De Groote, Francis Oloo, Songporne Tongruksawattana, Biswanath Das. Crop Protection Volume 82, April 2016, Pages 30–35
  • MLN pathogen diagnosis, MLN-free seed production and safe exchange to non-endemic countries. 2015. Monica Mezzalama, Biswanath Das, B. M. Prasanna
  • Genome-wide association and genomic prediction of resistance to maize lethal necrosis disease in tropical maize germplasm. 2015. Manje Gowda, Biswanath Das, Dan Makumbi, Raman Babu, Kassa Semagn, George Mahuku, Michael S. Olsen, Jumbo M. Bright, Yoseph Beyene, B. M. Prasanna. Theoretical and Applied Genetics

Bayer collaboration promises new innovations for South Asia farms

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Farmer Ram Shubagh Chaudhary in his wheat fields, in the village of Pokhar Binda, Maharajganj district, Uttar Pradesh, India. He alternates wheat and rice, and has achieved a bumper wheat crop by retaining crop residues and employing zero tillage. Photo: Petr Kosina / CIMMYT
Farmer Ram Shubagh Chaudhary in his wheat fields, in Uttar Pradesh, India. CIMMYT/Petr Kosina

NEW DELHI (CIMMYT) — Rice-wheat rotation is practiced by farmers on over 13 million hectares of farmland in South Asia, providing the primary source of food security in the region. However, climate change is projected to have a huge impact and reduce agricultural production 10 to 50 percent by 2050. Complex and local impacts from climate change and other challenges require solutions to risks that can be readily-adapted. Representatives from Bayer Crop Science  recently visited the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) offices in India to discuss the potential for developing jointly managed sustainable approaches and technologies to address such challenges.

Sustainable intensification, which involves such conservation agriculture practices as minimal soil disturbance, permanent soil cover and the use of crop rotation to increase profits, protect the environment, maintain and boost yields, is a potential solution that has worked to address the impact of climate change in South Asia. Such practices contribute to improved soil function and quality, which can improve resilience to climate variability.

“Systems research with conservation agriculture practices like direct seeded rice, no-till wheat and recycling crop residues have shown tremendous potential to address the challenges of water and labor scarcity, conserve natural resources and lower the environmental footprint of South Asia’s food bowl,” said M.L. Jat, CIMMYT senior cropping systems agronomist and the South Asia coordinator for the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security, collaboratively managed by the CGIAR consortium of international agricultural researchers.

During the Bayer meeting, challenges and opportunities were identified for direct seeded rice — which requires less labor and tends to mature faster than transplanted crops — and sustainable intensification programs throughout South Asia, particularly in India. Discussions were based on the success of other CIMMYT-Bayer collaborations across South Asia that aim to address agricultural challenges through sustainable intensification — including direct seeded rice — quantifying mitigation potential of conservation agriculture-based management in rice-wheat rotation and smart farm mechanization to make farm management more efficient and productive.

Moving forward, CIMMYT and Bayer will focus on agricultural systems research to ensure even more effective interventions with higher yields, collaborate to develop new sustainable technology and increase uptake throughout the region. Sustainable intensification practices are expected to continue to grow in the region thanks to these and other collaborations, along with the advent of technological advancements and increased adoption.

CIMMYT and Bayer’s Crop Science team are looking for practical solutions to future challenges in South Asian agriculture. Photo: Deepak, CIMMYT
CIMMYT and the Bayer Crop Science team are looking for practical solutions to future challenges in South Asian agriculture. CIMMYT/Deepak

Bayer representatives at the meeting included: Hartmut van Lengerich, head of cereals and fungicides; Juergen Echle, global segment manager of rice herbicides; Christian Zupanc, global segment manager of rice fungicides; Mahesh Girdhar, global crop manager of rice and Rajvir Rathi, vice president of public and government affairs. CIMMYT representatives included: Tek Sapkota, mitigation specialist; Balwinder Singh, crop modeling specialist and Alwin Keil, senior economist.

Assessing the potential of ICT in Pakistan’s agricultural extension

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Mark Bell presented the working paper to the Federal Minister of National Food Security and Research, Pakistan. Photo: Amina Nasim Khan/CIMMYT
Mark Bell presented the working paper to the Federal Secretary of National Food Security and Research, Pakistan. Photo: Amina Nasim Khan/CIMMYT

ISLAMABAD– The United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Agricultural Innovation Program for Pakistan shared the findings and proposed a plan for applying information communication technology (ICT) in agricultural extension in Pakistan, today in Islamabad during the launch ceremony of a working paper on the use of ICT in agriculture extension in Pakistan

This working paper is a product of AIP’s e-PakAG led by the University of California Davis (UC Davis) and highlights a series of opportunities to enhance the use of ICT in agricultural extension. Held at the National Agricultural Research Center (NARC), Islamabad, the launch ceremony of ICT use highlighted the promising role of new tools such as cell phones and enhanced videos in obtaining better scientific results to help farmers.  The work by UC Davis and the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, was implemented as part of the AIP, led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in partnership with the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), ILRI, AVRDC, IRRI and UC Davis.

Imtiaz Muhammad sharing the highlight of AIP and his views on the impact of information communication technology (ICT) on improving agricultural sector. Photo: Amina Nasim Khan/CIMMYT
Imtiaz Muhammad sharing the highlight of AIP and his views on the impact of information communication technology (ICT) on improving agricultural sector. Photo: Amina Nasim Khan/CIMMYT

CIMMYT Country Representative Imtiaz, Muhammad during the presentation of a working paper on ICT in agricultural extension said, “This new era of technology is leading to new horizons in agricultural research. The trends indicate powerful impact of information communication technology on improving the farmer’s productivity and these innovative practices will ultimately improve the Pakistani agricultural sector.”

Praising the efforts of AIP, Federal Secretary for National Food Security and Research Abid Javed pointed out that the continuous support of the American people is reshaping Pakistan’s agricultural sector, particularly farmers.

“ICT, like never before, offers us unprecedented opportunities to connect people and make useful information available to poor farmers. We have to find out how to better turn that potential into reality,” said Mark Bell, leader of AIP’s e-Pak Ag.

Pakistan’s Federal Minister of National Food Security and Research shared his thoughts with the audience at the launching ceremony. Photo: Amina Nasim Khan/CIMMYT
Pakistan’s Federal Secretary of National Food Security and Research shared his thoughts with the audience at the launching ceremony. Photo: Amina Nasim Khan/CIMMYT

As PARC Chairman Nadeem Amjad indicated, today the use of ICT is essential and AIP’s efforts will make it easy to convey relevant and credible information to extension staff and, through them, to farmers.

The United States is committed to working hand in hand with Pakistan to develop and modernize the agricultural sector. As a global center of excellence in the improvement of maize and wheat systems, CIMMYT has maintained a long and highly productive relationship with the Pakistani government and national partners, with the invaluable support of U.S. government agencies. AIP’s E-Pak Ag activities are capturing science and research innovations led by UC Davis, which has a rich history of working with and strengthening research, education and extension programs around the world.

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Launched in 2013, the USAID-funded Agricultural Innovation Program for Pakistan (AIP) works to increase agricultural productivity and incomes by promoting and disseminating modern practices in the cereal and cereal systems (wheat, maize and rice), livestock, fruit, and vegetable sectors; enhancing the capacity of agricultural scientists and researchers through short-term and long-term training such as M.Sc. and Ph.D. scholarships at U.S. land grant universities; establishing Provincial Agricultural Research for Development (AR4D) Boards to support expansion of provincial linkages to national, regional and international communities through a mechanism of coordination; and improving agricultural growth and research in Pakistan through a Competitive Grants System. Project management is vested in a unique consortium of Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) centers, US land grant universities, non-CGIAR centers, and the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). For more information, visit:  aip.cimmyt.org.

Improving diet through nutritious maize in Colombia

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CIAT field day. Photo Marleni Rosero, communications specialist at HarvestPlus-CIAT.
CIAT field day om Palmira, Colombia. Photo Luis Narro/CIMMYT.

PALMIRA, COLOMBIA — A field day was organized at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) to show the advances of CIMMYT’s HarvestPlus project in Colombia and throughout Latin America. 58 participants representing regional agriculture, education and health sectors, Colombian agricultural institutions, seed producing companies and producers’ guilds, non-governmental organizations and food processing and supply companies. CIAT and CIMMYT staff involved in HarvestPlus also attended the event.

Conferences held during the field day aimed to show participants the benefits of a biofortification program. Meike Anderson, a HarvestPlus crop development specialist of presented strategic priorities for developing and commercializing biofortified crops, emphasizing more than 2 billion people worldwide suffer from hidden hunger, or micronutrient deficiencies.

HarvestPlus was created to combat hidden hunger, and operates in over 40 countries with more than 200 partners. The project began in 2004 and is now in the dissemination phase. HarvestPlus is directly in line with the CGIAR’s goal to ensure improved crop varieties are designed to have high in nutritional value. HarvestPlus in turn has prioritized the development of maize seed with high zinc and provitamin A content. In Colombia 20% of the population is zinc deficient as it much of the population in other Latin American countries including Guatemala, Nicaragua, Brazil, Mexico and Peru.

Maize is the staple food of around a third of malnourished children all over the world. In Colombia 25% of children under 5 years of age present vitamin A deficiency. Biofortified food could have a huge impact improving diet in Colombia and across the globe.

CIMMYT aims to include higher protein quality, lysine, zinc and provitamin A in biofortified maize. To date, there are at least 10 biofortified varieties than after released that can be sown by farmers for both urban and rural consumers, all which were on display during the field day. A farm-to-plate strategy including beans, rice, cassava and yams should also be implemented.

Carolina Gonzalez, HarvestPlus economist, also presented socioeconomic studies prioritizing biofortification in Colombia during the event, identifying areas on the Atlantic coast as the greatest in need due to high levels of vitamin A and zinc deficiency. Sonia Gallego, post harvest Research Assistant of HarvestPlus, provided information from retention and nutrition studies on biofortified maize, emphasizing how important maize grain processing and conservation from harvest to food production are for vitamin A and zinc availability in the human body.

Narro_2
Discussing the benefits of biofortified maize, whcih should be available to Colombian farmers in 2017. Photo: Marleni Rosero/HarvestPlus-CIAT.

Field activities were also presented by CIMMYT researchers Felix San Vicente and Luis Narro. They emphasized the importance of delivering to farmers biofortified maize seeds that still produce yields that can compete with their competitors.  During an event hosted earlier in the year evaluating biofortified hybrids, the grain yield of the best hybrid was nearly ten tons per hectare, which is on par with the best performing maize used as a control group. This proves that high zinc or protein content does not cause farmers a loss in yield – just gains in nutritional. Biofortification also proved to have no effect on other traits like disease resistance, grain type or plant architecture.

At the end of the field day, teams identified institutions and companies that will take charge of varietal release and the seed production process in Colombia, including CORPOICA, Fenalce, Semivalle and Semillas Guerrero. In addition, CIMMYT will simultaneously sow plots to demonstrate to seed companies and other institutions the agronomic traits of different varieties.

Government programs that provide food for school children were also identified as potential collaborators to meet high demand for maize and malnourished children in that state of Valle del Cauca. Colombia demands is 1,200,000 tons of maize for food uses annually, with many producers and processing companies interested in the benefits of using biofortified maize and other crops.

Everyone who attended the workshop evaluated plant and grain traits and compared experimental plot yields. As a result, the seed companies decided to organize agronomic evaluation plots starting in 2016 and establish semi-commercial plots of hybrids, with the goal to release the first biofortified maize in 2017.

Among workshop attendees were CORPOICA and ICA, seed companies Semivalle, Maxisemillas, Semillas del pacífico and Procampo, producers guilds FENALCE, FEDERECAFE and ARDECAN, non-governmantal organizations including CETEC, FIDAR and CLAYUCA and companies Fundación Naturaleza y Vida and Pampa also attended.

“Farmers recommend,” a participative proposal by MasAgro Guanajuato

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Productores
Photo: Luz Paola López-Amezcua/CIMMYT

Irapuato, Guanajuato, 22 March, 2016.- MasAgro Guanajuato and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), through the “Farmers Recommend” campaign spanning from January till mid March, shared Guanajuatan farmers’ experiences with sustainable agriculture to scale out good agronomic practices and encourage more farmers to join the initiative.

Work methodologies that promote the development, adaptation, transfer and adoption of sustainable agricultural technologies and practices were shared through social networks and communication channels, which farmers also used to voice their opinions. During the campaign, 7 articles were published in the EnlACe Bulletin, 15 on Facebook that reached 29,067 people, and 40 tweets that were received by 47,821 people. MasAgro Móvil was another way we disseminated information about the campaign, with 7 messages reaching 1,300 people each week.

Marcelino Vázquez, representative of the organization Agro Productores Dobladenses, shared the marketing experiences they had during the 2014-2015 fall-winter cycle. He explained that farmers established the organization in order to improve their production systems and livelihoods, and recognized that working in coordination with SDAyR and MasAgro Guanajuato had been important to the success of the organization.

As a result of their efforts, from 2014 to date, farmers were able to market around 8,000 tons to different companies (Pepsico and flour processors). Despite not having a commercial infrastructure, these types of actions have improved the organization’s production and marketing systems; for this reason, Agro Productores Dobladenses recommends contract agriculture, which is a marketing alternative that allows farmers to get a good price for their harvest. It also ensures they will be able to market a certain volume at a specific price.

As for fertilization, farmers Fernando Castro García and Jesús Morales shared their experiences using soil amendments on sorghum; they used solid fertilizer instead of ammonia. Guanajuatan farmers also shared their experiences in other areas such as machinery, crop rotations and pest management. They also came to a consensus about which cropping practices are most sustainable and profitable.

An outstanding feature of the campaign was that what we shared was the result of discussions held with farmers and other actors (such as technicians, researchers, the industry and institutions), in which a consensus was reached about which practices are best for optimizing productivity, profitability and environmentally friendliness. This allowed us to generate and disseminate local knowledge to modify the dynamics of decision-making and knowledge transfer.

See the messages that we shared during the campaign! Look for the hashtag #LosProductoresRecomiendan on Facebook and Twitter. And don’t forget to call 01 (462) 6226116 if you wish to take part in the MasAgro Guanajuato initiative or send an email to r.barrera@cgiar.org with “Participación en MasAgro Guanajuato” as the subject.

New Publications: Red root marker improves double haploid maize breeding

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Purple maize varieties with high anthocyanin accumulation can have significant nutritional and economic value, but cannot be identified using the R1-nj marker. Photo: MAIZE
Purple maize varieties with high anthocyanin accumulation can have significant nutritional and economic value, but cannot be identified using the R1-nj marker. CIMMYT/MAIZE CRP handout

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) — Doubled haploid (DH) technology provides important benefits to maize breeding programs by enhancing genetic gains, improving breeding efficiency and offering significant economic advantages.

Unfortunately, this technology is limited by the fact that the R1-nj (Navajo) anthocyanin color marker cannot effectively identify haploids in many crosses where inhibitor genes prevent color expression in the seed. A new study from the MAIZE CGIAR Research Program titled “Development and validation of red root marker-based haploid inducers that effectively complement R1-nj (Navajo) marker-based in vivo haploid identification in maize” states that the Navajo marker caused a high percentage of false positives, especially in varieties with natural purple coloring, due to high anthocyanin content.

To combat this issue, the study recommends the use of triple anthocyanin color markers, in which the red/purple coloration is expressed in seedling roots and leaf sheaths in addition to the Navajo marker on the seed. Researchers found that use of the red root marker improved the accurate identification of haploids, especially in seeds that already have a natural purple color due to high anthocyanin content.

Read more about this research and other recent studies from CIMMYT scientists below.

Cereal systems in South Asia show diverse benefits of conservation agriculture

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Conservation agriculture (field at right) protects wheat from damage due to water stagnation experienced in a conventional field, visible in the blackening of the wheat (left field). Photo: CIMMYT/ Sapkota
Conservation agriculture (field at right) protects wheat from damage due to water stagnation experienced in a conventional field, visible in the blackening of the wheat (left field). CIMMYT/Tek Sapkota

Julianna White is program manager for low emissions agriculture at the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security. Tek Sapkota is a scientist with the International Maize and Wheat Improvment Center and lead author of the study. Any opinions expressed are their own.

Research shows conservation agriculture increases the income of farmers, moderates canopy temperatures, improves irrigation productivity and reduces greenhouse gas emissions in cereal systems in the Indo-Gangetic plains.

Conservation agriculture practices are also climate-smart, meaning they help farmers adapt to climate change while minimizing greenhouse gas emissions, found researchers from CIMMYT, the Borlaug Institute for South Asia and the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS).

In an August 2015 article in the Journal of Integrative Agriculture, researchers report that a comprehensive literature review and evidence collected from on-farm trials showed that conservation agriculture – defined as minimal soil disturbance and permanent soil cover combined with appropriate rotations – improved farmers’ income, helped crops sustain or adapt to heat and water stresses, and reduced agriculture’s contribution to greenhouse gas emissions in cereal systems in South Asia.

Farmer Ram Shubagh Chaudhary in his wheat fields, in the village of Pokhar Binda, Maharajganj district, Uttar Pradesh, India. He alternates wheat and rice, and has achieved a bumper wheat crop by retaining crop residues and employing zero tillage. He is one of the farmers working in partnership with the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA). CIMMYT is one of the many partners involved in CSISA, a collaborative project designed to decrease hunger and increase food and income security for resource-poor farm families in South Asia through development and deployment of new varieties, sustainable management technologies, and policies, led by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the USAID. Chaudhary carries out many different experiments, including comparisons of varieties, sowing dates, herbicides, and other variables, and gives demonstrations of his fields to other farmers. Photo credit: CIMMYT.
Farmer Ram Shubagh Chaudhary in his wheat fields, in the village of Pokhar Binda, Maharajganj district, Uttar Pradesh, India. He alternates wheat and rice, and has achieved a bumper wheat crop by retaining crop residues and employing zero tillage. CIMMYT/Petr Kosina

Farmers reap economic benefits

Conservation agriculture recommends minimal soil disturbance, most commonly tillage. Farmers who practiced zero tillage saved 23 percent in production costs by avoiding preparatory tillage and reducing the number of times fields were irrigated, while reaping the same or slightly higher yields.

Minimizing heat stress

High temperatures during the maturity stage cause wheat to decrease grain size, lowering overall yields, a phenomenon known as “terminal heat effect.” Farmers who practice conservation agriculture avoid this heat stress because residues left on the surface of the field conserve soil moisture, enhancing transpiration and creating a cooling effect – thus avoiding reduced yields caused by terminal heat effect.

Efficient use of water resources

Researchers found multiple examples that the zero tillage component of conservation agriculture led to significant water savings in both rice and wheat systems. Water savings accrued across systems. In rice-wheat systems, retention of wheat residues reduces water use in rice, and retention of rice residues causes reduced water use in wheat. Non-requirement of preparatory tillage advances the planting times thereby increasing rainwater-use efficiency and utilizing residual moisture from the previous crop.

Decrease in greenhouse gas emissions

Minimizing soil disturbance allows for soil carbon to accumulate, causing a net soil carbon gain. Although scientists are still debating the extent of soil carbon sequestered through conservation agriculture, indirect emissions reductions are numerous: less power and fuel consumption due to decreased tillage in conservation agriculture, decreased labor from machines and humans, and slower depreciation of equipment.

Business-as-usual production practices such as conventional tillage and farmers’ nutrient and irrigation management systems are greenhouse gas-intensive, while zero tillage reduces energy consumption in land preparation and crop establishment and efficient use of water resources reduces energy needs from pumping. Leaving residues in the field increases soil health and fertility, thereby reducing the need for chemical fertilizers.

Researchers found that, on average, farmers could save 36 liters of diesel per hectare, equivalent to a reduction in 93 kg CO2 emission per hectare per year by practicing zero tillage for land preparation and crop establishment in the rice-wheat system typical on the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Given that 13.5 million hectares are under rice-wheat system cultivation in the region, this represents a reduction of 12.6 megatons of CO2 equivalent.

New technologies increase uptake of conservation agriculture

Despite excellent productivity, economic gains and environmental benefits, adoption of conservation agriculture in South Asia is still relatively slow, most likely due to various technological and socio-economic factors. It takes years and ample evidence for farmers to change the entrenched habit of tillage with planting. And it is a process.

For example, some farmers have adopted zero-tillage in wheat production, primarily to facilitate early planting, lower production costs and increase yields (and therefore profitabilitiy). However, these same farmers still prefer to practice tillage and puddling (wet-tillage) in their rice crops for weed control and reduction in percolation loss of water/nutrient. Also, farmers tend to burn crop residues to facilitate planting with the zero-tillage drill. To realize the full potential of conservation agriculture, all crops in rotation have to be brought under zero tillage, and crop residues will have to be used as soil surface mulch.

Due to the recent development of the “Turbo Happy Seeder,” which can drill seed and fertilizer directly through loose and anchored crop residues, farmers are gradually moving towards zero tillage across the agriculture system.

Farmers who practice conservation agriculture also must adjust their nutrient management systems in order to maximize crop productivity decrease costs. Conventional fertilizer recommendations have been calibrated based on tillage-based systems are thus not necessarily appropriate for conservation agriculture systems, including nutrient stewardship (applying the right source of fertilizer at the right time in right place using right method).

Crop residue management is essential for continuous coil cover, an important component of conservation agriculture, but farmers are faced with competing uses of crop residue as livestock feed, fuel, mulch and compost. Local adaptive research is needed to address strategic residue and nutrient management, weed control and scale-appropriate machinery development.

Such a paradigm shift in crop management requires a mindset transition among farmers and other value chain actors, including researchers, extension agents, market players and other institutions. Though it is recognized that transition takes time, recent progress and development in weed control and nutrient management systems signal that practice of conservation agriculture is growing across the region, including among different socio-economic groups and farm typologies.

CCAFS and CIMMYT continue research and implementation of low emissions agriculture across the globe. See also the regional focus on conservation and climate-smart agriculture in South Asia.

Scientists aim to adapt wheat to a warmer climate with less water

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MReynoldsEL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Scientists battling to increase wheat production by more than 60 percent over the next 35 years to meet projected demand are optimistic that they have begun to unravel the genetic mysteries that will lead to a more productive plant.

A recent study conducted at 26 international sites with a new generation of improved wheat breeding lines crossed and selected for superior physiological traits, resulted in yields that were on average 10 percent higher than other wheat varieties.

In the study, scientists identified many useful traits in the wheat plant suited to heat and drought adaptation, including: cooler canopy temperature indicating the ability of the plant to access subsoil water under drought and root proliferation under hot irrigated conditions.

They also discovered the plants have the ability to store sugars in the stem when conditions are good and the capacity to remobilize them to the grain when needed for seed filling if conditions do not permit enough photosynthesis. Leaf wax also plays a role by reflecting excess radiation and reducing evaporation from the leaf surface, lowering the risk of photo-inhibition and dehydration.

Additionally, scientists discovered that total aboveground biomass, a trait, which indicates overall plant fitness and with the right crossing strategy can be converted to produce higher grain yield.

“What we have revealed is a proof of concept – namely that designing crosses on the basis of wheat’s physiology results in a range of novel genotypes with significant improvements in yield and adaptation,” said Matthew Reynolds, a distinguished scientist and wheat physiologist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

“We have a long road ahead, but we hope eventually this work will lead to the discovery of the best combinations of genes suited to specific heat and drought profiles.”

HEAT STRESS

Climate change poses considerable risks to food security and political stability. Wheat is a vital food staple providing 20 percent of the calories and protein consumed by people worldwide.

Projections indicate that it is very likely that rainfall will be more unpredictable and that heat waves will occur more often and last longer throughout the 21st century, according to a report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Mean surface temperatures could potentially rise by between 2 to 5 degrees Celsius or more, the report said.

A recent comprehensive modeling exercise, which incorporated data from international heat stress trials led by CIMMYT’s wheat physiology team in the 1990s, shows that for each degree increase in average temperature, there is a 6 percent reduction in wheat yield, so an increase of 5 degrees would lead to a 30 percent reduction or more.

“A 30 percent yield reduction would be very harmful to food security because we know that wheat production must increase by 60 percent just to keep up with population projections,” Reynolds said. “Combined with predicted climate risks, the challenge increases – if this happens, we’ll need to double the yield capacity of our current varieties.”

While demand for wheat is projected to increase at a rate of 1.7 percent a year until 2015, global productivity increases at only 1.1 percent. Conventional breeding approaches achieve less than 1 percent per year, a yield barrier that scientists aim to break.

“If the relative rate of improvement in yields continues at its current pace, there will be a large gap between the amount of available wheat and the amount we need to feed the global population,” Reynolds said.

LESS THIRSTY PLANT

Research findings will be developed under the International Wheat Yield Partnership (IWYP) and the Heat and Drought Wheat Improvement Consortium (HeDWIC), aiding the development of molecular breeding methodologies which will complement the trait-based approach.

Under IWYP and HeDWIC scientists will be redesigning the wheat plant for adaptive traits relating to temperature extremes, photoperiod, soil depth, and other environmental factors. Other goals will include attempting to drastically increase radiation-use efficiency, and to understand how plants use signaling to coordinate their activities and respond to environmental fluxes.

Such crops as rice and triticale can be used as potential models for wheat redesign. Rice is similar to wheat in terms of its basic metabolism, but tolerates much higher temperatures, Reynolds said. Triticale could also be used as a model, since it almost never lodges – or falls over – and its spikes have a very high grain number, he added.

Scientists also aim to increase their understanding of the role of roots and their potential to boost yield and ability to adapt to stress.

Because roots are hidden and messy to work with their physiology has been largely ignored in comparison to the parts of the plant above ground, but new technologies are helping to overcome these disadvantages, Reynolds said.

Such challenges are now more feasible to tackle due to a new generation of genomics tools and other biotechnologies which become more powerful each year.

“The revolution in phenomics – work that the Wheat Physiology Group helped pioneer – especially remote sensing for temperature and spectral indices, which indicate specific physiological properties of the plant-, means that we can now evaluate a much larger numbers of lines than in the past,” Reynolds said.

“We’ve already screened 70,000 accessions from the World Wheat Collection in the CIMMYT Genebank, and have identified a veritable powerhouse of novel material to support this work related to breeding and gene discovery for decades to come. So although the challenge is enormous, we remain optimistic.”

Follow @WheatPhysiology on Twitter

RELATED RESEARCH

International Wheat Yield Potential Proceedings

Physiological traits for improving heat tolerance in wheat 

Achieving yield gains in wheat

Translational research impacting on crop productivity in drought-prone environments

MasAgro named a project transforming Mexico by leading university

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MasAgro named a project transforming Mexico. Photographer: MasAgro/CIMMYT
MasAgro named a project transforming Mexico. Photographer: MasAgro/CIMMYT


MONTERREY, Mexico – The Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture (MasAgro) project of Mexico’s Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food, in close collaboration with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), was recognized by Universidad Tecnológico y Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) as being one of “10 projects that are transforming Mexico.”

“This project is transforming Mexico and, four years after its launch, it has benefited more than 200,000 farmers,” said Silverio García Lara, professor at ITESM’s School of Engineering and Science, Monterrey campus. “The project focuses on the base of the productive and economic pyramid,” explained the researcher, who favors “developing cutting-edge technologies to regenerate and renew Mexican farming.”

ITESM is involved in a project focusing on biotechnology for food security that applies cutting-edge technologies to analyze MasAgro’s new maize varieties and ensure they meet the nutrition and processing quality parameters of the Mexican market, explained Natalia Palacios, the person responsible for CIMMYT’s Maize Quality Laboratory, in an information bulletin that was broadcast when the winning project was presented at the 46th Research and Development Congress held on 20-22 January at ITESM’s Student Center, Monterrey campus.

“We are very proud of MasAgro because its results in the lab and especially in farmers’ fields have been widely recognized both nationally and internationally; today ITESM, a research partner that has collaborated with us since the beginning, also recognizes the project,” said Bram Govaerts, Leader of CIMMYT’s Sustainable Intensification Strategy for Latin America.

Among MasAgro’s main achievements, Govaerts highlighted the adoption of sustainable intensification of basic grain production on half a million hectares. He also emphasized the development of 20 high yielding maize hybrids which, combined with MasAgro’s sustainable agronomic practices, have increased rainfed maize farmers’ income by 9-31%. According to Govaerts, 16 precision machines for use in different production situations, from subsistence to intensive or commercial farming, and different postharvest storage solutions are among the technologies that MasAgro offers.

“Our farmers out in the fields are very interested in innovating and obtaining new technologies coming from the labs and from international research institutions such as CIMMYT,” stated García Lara when presenting ITESM’s award for the work done by MasAgro.

NAAS fellow M.L. Jat talks climate change, sustainable agriculture

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M.L. Jat shows resilient cropping system options for eastern Indo-Gangetic plains at BISA farm
M.L. Jat shows resilient cropping system options for eastern Indo-Gangetic plains at BISA farm

CIMMYT Senior Scientist M.L. Jat has received India’s National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) fellowship in Natural Resource Management for his “outstanding contributions in developing and scaling” conservation agriculture-based management technologies for predominant cereal-based cropping systems in South Asia.

M.L.’s research on conservation agriculture (CA) – sustainable and profitable agriculture that improves livelihoods of farmers via minimal soil disturbance, permanent soil cover, and crop rotations – has guided improvements in soil and environmental health throughout South Asia. His work has led to policy level impacts in implementing CA practices such as precision land leveling, zero tillage, direct seeding, and crop residue management, and he has played a key role in building the capacity of CA stakeholders throughout the region.

Research such as M.L.’s is more important every day, as we learn to do more with less on a planet with finite resources and changing climate. Sustainable innovation, including climate-smart agriculture, is a major theme at the ongoing COP21 climate talks where global leaders are gathered to decide the future of our planet. M.L. tells us below how CA can play a part in climate change mitigation and adaptation, and the future of CA in South Asia.

What are the major threats global climate change poses to South Asian agriculture?

South Asia is one of the most vulnerable regions in the world to climate change. With a growing population of 1.6 billion people, the region hosts 40% of the world’s poor and malnourished on just 2.4% of the world’s land. Agriculture makes up over half of the region’s livelihoods, so warmer winters and extreme, erratic weather events such as droughts and floods have an even greater impact. Higher global temperatures will continue to add extreme pressure to finite land and other natural resources, threatening food security and livelihoods of smallholder farmers and the urban poor.

How does CA mitigate and help farmers adapt to climate change?

In South Asia, climate change is likely to reduce agricultural production 10‐50% by 2050 and beyond, so adaptation measures are needed now. Climate change has complex and local impacts, requiring scalable solutions to likewise be locally-adapted.

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices such as CA not only minimize production costs and inputs, but also help farmers adapt to extreme weather events, reduce temporal variability in productivity, and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, according to numerous data on CA management practices throughout the region.

What future developments are needed to help South Asian farmers adapt to climate change?

Targeting and access to CA sustainable intensification technologies, knowledge, and training – such as precision water and nutrient management or mechanized CA solutions specific to a farmer’s unique landscape – will be critical to cope with emerging risks of climate variability. Participatory and community-based approaches will be critical for scaled impact as well. For example, the climate smart village concept allows rural youth and women to be empowered not only by becoming CA practitioners but also by serving as knowledge providers to the local community, making them important actors in generating employment and scaling CA and other climate-smart practices.

Where do you see your research heading in the next 10-15 years?

Now that there are clear benefits of CA and CSA across a diversity of farms at a regional level, as well as increased awareness by stakeholders of potential challenges of resource degradation and food security in the face of climate change, scaling up CA and CSA interventions will be a priority. For example, the Government of Haryana in India has already initiated a program to introduce CSA in 500 climate smart villages. Thanks to this initiative, CA and CSA will benefit 10 million farms across the region in the next 10-15 years.

 

Climate-Smart Villages

Climate-Smart Villages are a community-based approach to adaptation and mitigation of climate change for villages in high-risk areas, which will likely suffer most from a changing climate. The project began in 2011 with 15 climate-smart villages in West Africa, East Africa and South Asia, and is expanding to Latin America and Southeast Asia. CIMMYT is leading the CCAFS-CSV project in South Asia.

FAO has its finger on the ‘pulse’ when it comes to food security

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The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has declared 2016 the International Year of Pulses under the motto “Nutritious seeds for a sustainable future.” Pulses, an annual leguminous crop yielding from one to 12 seeds (dry beans, kidney beans, dry peas, lentils and others), have been named by the FAO as essential in the fight for food security for their nutrient value and their key role in crop rotations through the ability to fix nitrogen.

When we plant the same species on the same land every year, we are engaging in what is called monoculture. Monoculture has unfavorable consequences for production, since it increases the incidence of weeds, pests and diseases, which become resistant to control methods.

To counteract this, one of the principles of Conservation Agriculture (CA) is crop rotation, which involves planting different crops in the same field in a specific order. Crop rotation reduces the incidence of pests and diseases by interrupting their life cycles; it also maintains weed control and promotes more appropriate nutrient distribution in the soil profile (crops that have deeper roots extract nutrients at a greater depth) and helps reduce the economic risk when an unforeseen event affects one of the crops. It also enables farmers to balance residue production because crops that produce few residues can be rotated with crops that produce a large amount.

Crop rotation should include pulses (leguminous crops) that make efficient use of water and provide soil nutrients (such as nitrogen) that are extracted by grains.

The year will be a unique opportunity to foster connections all along the food chain in order to benefit more from proteins derived from pulses, increase pulse production worldwide, make better use of crop rotation and face the challenges of commercializing pulses.