Theme: Nutrition, health and food security

As staple foods, maize and wheat provide vital nutrients and health benefits, making up close to two-thirds of the world’s food energy intake, and contributing 55 to 70 percent of the total calories in the diets of people living in developing countries, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. CIMMYT scientists tackle food insecurity through improved nutrient-rich, high-yielding varieties and sustainable agronomic practices, ensuring that those who most depend on agriculture have enough to make a living and feed their families. The U.N. projects that the global population will increase to more than 9 billion people by 2050, which means that the successes and failures of wheat and maize farmers will continue to have a crucial impact on food security. Findings by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which show heat waves could occur more often and mean global surface temperatures could rise by up to 5 degrees Celsius throughout the century, indicate that increasing yield alone will be insufficient to meet future demand for food.

Achieving widespread food and nutritional security for the world’s poorest people is more complex than simply boosting production. Biofortification of maize and wheat helps increase the vitamins and minerals in these key crops. CIMMYT helps families grow and eat provitamin A enriched maize, zinc-enhanced maize and wheat varieties, and quality protein maize. CIMMYT also works on improving food health and safety, by reducing mycotoxin levels in the global food chain. Mycotoxins are produced by fungi that colonize in food crops, and cause health problems or even death in humans or animals. Worldwide, CIMMYT helps train food processors to reduce fungal contamination in maize, and promotes affordable technologies and training to detect mycotoxins and reduce exposure.

Participants in one of the trainings learn how to scout and collect data on fall armyworm in a maize field. (Photo: Bandana Pradhan/CIMMYT)

Collective efforts to fight fall armyworm in Nepal

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on April 7, 2020. Posted in Features.

Three years ago, farmers in the country were combatting the threats of a destructive tomato pest, Tuta Absoluta, and are now battling their way to manage the attack of fall armyworm on maize fields across the country. Since the government’s Plant Quarantine and Pest Management Centre (PQPMC) declared the arrival of fall armyworm on August 2019, this pest is reported to have infested almost half the districts of Nepal and continues to spread further.

“I wasn’t able to gather even half the yields I used to get from my maize field following the fall armyworm outbreak last year,” said Pavitra, a farmer from Sindhupalchowk district, Nepal.

The level of incidence and damage varies from place to place, but farmers have reported up to 80% crop loss in extreme cases. In Nepal, the fall armyworm has the potential to cause maize yield losses of 20-25%, which translates to the loss of more than half a million tons of the annual maize production — estimated at around $200 million. If the pest is left unrestrained, its impact will be huge for farmers and the economy.

This calls for a collective effort and broad mobilization to effectively manage fall armyworm and limit its spread across the country. Since the pest was expected to reach Nepal, partners have conducted workshops and community mobilization initiatives.

Experts at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) have been working with public and private partners before and after the arrival of the invasive pest in Nepal. The shared efforts have focused on creating awareness, disseminating appropriate technologies and management techniques, and strengthening the capacity of communities, institutions and governments.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development has established a national taskforce to fight the pest. Most provinces have established similar taskforces that include researchers, agriculture extension agents, farmers and entrepreneur associations.

Training participants examine a fall armyworm on a maize leaf. (Photo: Bandana Pradhan/CIMMYT)

Fall armyworms are found on leaves in a maize field in Nepal. (Photo: Shailaja Thapa/CIMMYT)

A pheromone trap is installed next to a maize field in Nepal. (Photo: Bandana Pradhan/CIMMYT)

Participants in one of the trainings learn how to scout and collect data on fall armyworm in a maize field. (Photo: Bandana Pradhan/CIMMYT)

Training participants imitate the fall armyworm’s white inverted Y mark visible on the front of the head of the larva. (Photo: Bandana Pradhan/CIMMYT)

Gearing up to fight the very hungry caterpillar

In collaboration with national and provincial governments, CIMMYT has trained 426 agricultural professionals, including lead farmers, on how to identify and manage fall armyworm.

In February 2020, CIMMYT partnered with agricultural development directorates in two provinces to train 130 people on how to scout for fall armyworm and recommended solutions, based on integrated pest management principles.

In late 2019, CIMMYT engaged with the public and private sector through training workshops to disseminate proven practices to control the pest.

“Before, I was unable to recognize the pest that had destroyed my maize field. The hands-on training has been very informative,” said Urmila Banjgayu, a lead farmer who participated in one of the trainings. “I am certain to share the knowledge and practices that I learned with other farmers in my locality. They need to know what to do and what not to.”

Through the Nepal Seed and Fertilizer (NSAF) project, CIMMYT staff is working closely with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC), the PQPMC, provincial governments, and other USAID-funded projects and development partners in Nepal. Together, they have developed integrated pest management packages, informative factsheets and surveillance guidelines. CIMMYT researchers have shared experiences on pest management, surveillance and scouting techniques from other countries in Asia and Africa. They have also demonstrated digital tools that will help map the spread of the pest and build accurate interpretation for better management.

Outreach workers use an auto-rickshaw equipped with a sound system and infographics to disseminate information about armyworm in Nepal’s Banke district. (Photo: Darbin Joshi/CIMMYT.)

Farmers listen to information about fall armyworm displayed on an auto-rickshaw in Nepal’s Banke district. (Photo: Darbin Joshi/CIMMYT)

Fall armyworm awareness campaign

Farmers must learn how to identify and manage this pest. Bijaya Ghimire, a lead farmer from Kanchanpur district, had heard about fall armyworm from a nearby seed company and a few of his friends. He informed the Agriculture Knowledge Center about the symptoms he observed in his maize field, and verification of the larvae and damage confirmed the presence of fall armyworm. Luckily, Ghimire was able to control the pest before severe damage was done.

CIMMYT researchers collaborated with the Prime Minister Agricultural Modernization Project (PMAMP) to implement outreach campaigns in Banke district. This included a mobile information booth, local dissemination of audio messages, and distribution of posters and fact sheets about fall armyworm. The two-day campaign successfully raised awareness about the pest, reaching more than 1,000 farmers from four villages in maize growing areas.

Researchers also worked with Scientific Animations Without Borders (SAWBO) and adapted an educational video on how to identify and scout for fall armyworm in a field into Nepali. In collaboration with the PQPMC, the video was broadcast 42 times on three local TV channels, to an estimated audience of more than one million viewers in June 2019. The video has also received over 2,000 online views. The animated video is being shown to farmers using mobile phones and displayed on big screens during community events and workshops.

“Seamless collaboration is required among the major stakeholders in the country to collectively fight the pest,” said AbduRahman Beshir, CIMMYT seed systems lead for the NSAF project and member of the national fall armyworm taskforce. “The potential impact of fall armyworm poses a fundamental challenge for smallholder farmers in Nepal. If unattended, it is going to be a food security issue and an equally daunting task to safeguard livelihoods.”

Hans Braun, Director of the Global Wheat Program at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), inspects wheat plants in the greenhouses. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés/CIMMYT)

Crossing boundaries

Written by Marta Millere on April 7, 2020. Posted in Features.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official views or position of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

Daily life as we know it has grinded to a halt and crop scientists are pondering next steps in face of the global COVID-19 crisis. Hans Braun, Director of the Global Wheat Program at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat, joins us for a virtual chat to discuss the need for increased investment in crop disease research as the world risks a food security crisis.

What have you learned from your work on contagious wheat diseases that we can take away during this time?

Wheat epidemics go back to biblical times. Wheat scientists now believe Egypt’s “seven bad years” of harvest referenced in the Bible were due to a stem rust outbreak.

So, we know what happens when we have a crop epidemic: diseases can completely wipe out a harvest. I have seen subsistence farmers stand in front of their swaying, golden wheat fields, but there is not a single grain inside the spikes. All because of wheat blast.

There are a lot of parallel issues that I see with COVID-19.

The epidemiology models for humans which we see now have a lot in common with plant epidemiology. For example, if you take a wheat field sown with a variety which is rust-resistant and then you get a spore which mutates and overcomes the resistance — like COVID-19 overcomes the human immune system — it then takes about two weeks for it to sporulate again and produce millions of these mutated spores. They sporulate once more and then you have billions and trillions of spores — then the wheat fields at the local, national and, in the worst case, regional level are severely damaged and in worst case are going to die.

The problem is that since we cannot quarantine wheat, if the weather is favorable these spores will fly everywhere and — just like with COVID-19 — they don’t need a passport to travel.

Could you elaborate on that? How can wheat diseases go global?

Usually it takes around 5 years, sometimes less, until a mutation in a rust spore can overcome the resistance of a wheat variety. Every so often, we see rust epidemics which cover an entire region. To monitor this movement, the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative of Cornell University and CIMMYT, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and DFID, established a global rust monitoring system that provides live data on spore movements.

For example, if you have a new race of stem rust in Yemen — and in Yemen wheat matures early — and then farmers burn the straw, their action “pushes” the spores up into the air, thus allowing them to enter the jet stream and cover 2,000 to 5,000 kilometers in a short period of time. Spores can also be carried on clothes or shoes by people who walked into an infected wheat field. Take Australia, for example, which has very strict quarantine laws. It is surrounded by sea and still eventually they get the new rust races which fly around or come with travelers. One just cannot prevent it.

Stem rust resistant (left) and susceptible (right) wheat plants at the stem rust phenotyping facility in Njoro, Nakuru County in Kenya. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

Could climate change exacerbate the spreading of crop diseases?

Yes, the climate and its variability have a lot to do with it. For example, in the case of yellow rust, what’s extremely important is the time it takes from sporulation to sporulation. Take a rust spore. It germinates, then it grows, it multiplies and then once it is ready it will disperse and infect wheat plants. From one dispersal to the next it takes about two weeks.

In the last decades, in particular for yellow rust, new races are better adapted to high temperature and are multiplying faster. In a Nature paper, we showed that 30 years ago yellow rust was not present in the Great Plains in the US. Today, it is the most important wheat disease there. So there really is something going on and changing and that’s why we are so concerned about new wheat disease races when they come up.

What could an epidemiologist specialized in human viruses take from this?

Well, I think human epidemiologists know very well what happens in a case like COVID-19. Ordinary citizens now also start to understand what a pandemic is and what its related exponential growth means.

Maybe you should ask what policymakers can learn from COVID-19 in order to prevent plant epidemics. When it comes to epidemics, what applies to humans applies to plants. If there is a new race of a given crop disease, in that moment, the plant does not have a defense mechanism, like humans in the case of COVID-19, because we haven’t developed any immunity. While in developed countries farmers can use chemicals to control plant diseases, resource-poor farmers do not have this option, due to lack to access or if the plant protective has not been registered in their country.

In addition to this, our lines of work share a sense of urgency. If “doomsday” happens, it will be too late to react. At present, with a human pandemic, people are worried about the supply chain from food processing to the supermarket. But if we have an epidemic in plants, then we do not have the supply chain from the field to the food processing industry. And if people have nothing to eat, they will go to the streets and we will see violence. We simply cannot put this aside.

What other lessons can policymakers and other stakeholders take away from the current crisis?

The world needs to learn that we cannot use economics as the basis for disease research. We need to better foresee what could happen.

Let’s take the example of wheat blast, a devastating disease that can destroy the wheat spike and was initially confined to South America. The disease arrived in Bangladesh in 2016 and caused small economic damage, maybe 30,000 tons loss in a small geographic area — a small fraction of the national production but a disaster for the smallholder farmer, who thus would have lost her entire wheat harvest. The disease is now controlled with chemicals. But what if chemical resistance is developed and the disease spreads to the 10 million hectares in the Indo-Gangetic Plains of India and the south of Pakistan. Unlikely? But what if it happens?

Agriculture accounts for 30% of the global GDP and the research money [going to agriculture] in comparison to other areas is small. Globally only 5% of R&D is invested in research for development related to agriculture. Such a discrepancy! A million U.S. dollars invested in wheat blast research goes a long way and if you don’t do it, you risk a disaster.

If there is any flip side to the COVID-19 disaster, it is that hopefully our governments realize that they have to play a much more serious role in many areas, in particular public health and disease control in humans but also in plants.

A Lloyd’s report concluded that a global food crisis could be caused by governments taking isolating actions to protect their own countries in response to a breadbasket failure elsewhere. I’m concerned that as the COVID-19 crisis continues, governments will stop exports as some did during the 2008 food price crisis, and then, even if there is enough food around, the 2008 scenario might happen again and food prices will go through the roof, with disastrous impact on the lives of the poorest.

This article was originally published by the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat (WHEAT):
Crossing boundaries: looking at wheat diseases in times of the COVID-19 crisis.

Cover photo: Hans Braun, Director of the Global Wheat Program at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), inspects wheat plants in the greenhouses. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés/CIMMYT)

The newly inaugurated greenhouse at Tlaltizapán research station, in Mexico's state of Morelos. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés/CIMMYT)

New greenhouse honors scientist, aims to further maize wild relatives research

Written by Natasha Nagarajan on April 2, 2020. Posted in Features. 1 Comment on New greenhouse honors scientist, aims to further maize wild relatives research

On February 27, 2020, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) opened a new greenhouse at its research station in Tlaltizapán, in Mexico’s state of Morelos. The Garrison Wilkes Center for Maize Wild Relatives is named after a pioneering scientist in the field of maize genetics.

“The name teosinte refers to a group of wild relatives of maize,” said Denise Costich, manager of the maize germplasm collection at CIMMYT. “The seven members of this group — all in the genus Zea — are more grass-like than maize, produce hard-shelled seeds that are virtually inedible, and are capable of enduring biotic and abiotic stressors better than their crop relative.” Teosintes must be protected, Costich explained, as they possess some desirable qualities that could help improve maize resilience in difficult conditions. Since CIMMYT’s Germplasm Bank is the global source for teosinte seed, the new greenhouse, designed exclusively for the regeneration of teosinte accessions from the bank collection, will ensure that there will always be seed available for research and breeding.

Garrison Wilkes was one of the first scientists to emphasize the importance of the teosintes and their close biological relationship to maize. He spent more than 50 years working on maize conservation in collaboration with CIMMYT. Together with scientists such as Angel Kato, a former CIMMYT research assistant and longtime professor, Suketoshi Taba, former head of CIMMYT’s Germplasm Bank, and Jesus Sanchez, as researchers at the University of Guadalajara, he contributed to the development of the global maize collection of CIMMYT’s Germplasm Bank as it exists today.

(From left to right) Garrison Wilkes, Angel Kato and Jesus Sanchez, study a teosinte population in Los Reyes, near Texcoco, Mexico, in 1992. (Photo: Mike Listman/CIMMYT)

Keeping seeds alive

Teosintes are the wild plants from which maize was domesticated about 7,000 years ago. They are durable, with natural resistance to disease and unfavorable weather, and grow primarily in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. “What makes [teosinte] a wild plant is its seed dispersal. Corn doesn’t disperse its seed — it’s stuck on the cob. To be a wild plant means they can sow their own seed and survive,” explained Wilkes. Keeping these seeds alive could be the key to developing resilient modern maize with the potential to feed millions.

One of the difficulties in growing maize and teosinte in Tlaltizapán to produce seed for global distribution is that the station is surrounded by sugarcane fields. Sugarcane carries a disease called the Sugarcane Mosaic Virus (SCMV), to which maize and teosinte are susceptible, and SCMV-positive seed cannot be distributed outside of Mexico. Additionally, if teosinte and maize are grown in close proximity to one another, it becomes very difficult to control gene flow between them via airborne pollen. Several experiments, ranging from growing the teosinte in pots to monitoring that the maize and teosinte flower at different times, could not fully guarantee that there was no cross-contamination. Therefore, in order to continue to cultivate maize and teosinte within the same station, the CIMMYT Germplasm Bank needed to create an isolated environment.

Garrison Wilkes describes characteristic features of the teosinte grown in the greenhouse. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés/CIMMYT)

On average, the teosinte seed collections in the germplasm bank were nearly 19 years old, and 29% were not available for distribution due to low seed numbers. Researchers needed to find a way to produce more high-quality seed and get started as soon as possible. “My staff and I visited Jesus Sanchez, a world-renowned teosinte expert, and learned as much as we could about how to cultivate teosinte in greenhouses,” explained Costich “We realized that this could be the solution to our teosinte regeneration problem.”

Construction of the new greenhouse began in late 2017, with funding received from the 2016 Save a Seed Campaign — a crowdfunding initiative which raised more than $50,000. Donations contributed to activities such as seed storage, tours and educational sessions, seed collection, seed repatriation and regeneration of depleted seeds. With the new greenhouse, CIMMYT scientists can now breed teosinte without worrying about maize contamination, and prevent the extinction of these valuable species.

CIMMYT holds most of the world’s publically accessible collections of teosinte. “The wild relatives are a small part of our collection, but also a very important part, as they are theoretically the future of genetic diversity,” said Costich.“They have been important in the evolution of the crop. If we lose them, we can’t learn anything more from them, which would be a shame.”

Garrison Wilkes (left) poses with maize producer Ventura Garcia and her family. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés/CIMMYT)

Wheat curl mites: What are they and how can we fight them?

Written by Alison Doody on April 1, 2020. Posted in Videos. 1 Comment on Wheat curl mites: What are they and how can we fight them?

The wheat curl mite, a pesky wheat pest which can cause up to 100% yield losses, is a significant threat to wheat crops worldwide. The pest has been confirmed in Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and parts of South America. Almost invisible to the naked eye, the microscopic pest is one of the most difficult pests to manage in wheat due to its ability to evade insecticides.

We caught up with Punya Nachappa, an assistant professor at Colorado State University, at this year’s International Plant Resistance to Insects (IPRI) Workshop to discuss wheat curl mites and how to fight them. She explains how the mite cleverly avoids insecticides, how climate change is leading to increasing populations and why breeding for host plant resistance is the main defense against outbreaks.

Injera, an Ethiopian sourdough flatbread made from wholegrain teff flour. (Photo: Rod Waddington)

From popcorn to roti

Written by Emma Orchardson on March 26, 2020. Posted in Photos. 1 Comment on From popcorn to roti

When asked to picture a food made of whole grains, your first thought might be a loaf of brown, whole-wheat bread. But wholegrain dishes come in all forms.

Take a virtual journey around the world to see the popular or surprising ways in which whole grains are eaten from Mexico to Bangladesh.

Popcorn, a wholegrain food and source of high-quality carbohydrates eaten across the world. (Photo: Alfonso Cortes/CIMMYT)

Roasted and boiled maize ears on sale in Xochimilco, in the south of Mexico City. (Photo: M. DeFreese/CIMMYT)

Maize-flour tortillas, a staple food eaten daily in Mexico and across Central America. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés/CIMMYT)

Githeri, a staple food made with maize and beans, Kenya. (Photo: CIMMYT)

A loaf of whole-wheat bread, which could look brown or white in color, depending on how the wheat flour is processed. (Photo: Mattie Hagedorn)

A woman in Bangladesh prepares roti, an unleavened whole wheat bread eaten across the Indian sub-continent. (Photo: S. Mojumder/Drik/CIMMYT)

Tabbouleh, a Levantine salad made with a base of soaked bulgur wheat. (Photo: Moritz Guth)

Granola, a popular breakfast food made with a base of rolled, whole oats. (Photo: Alfonso Cortes/CIMMYT)

Injera, an Ethiopian sourdough flatbread made from wholegrain teff flour. (Photo: Rod Waddington)

A plate of cooked brown rice will accompany a meal in the Philippines. (Photo: IRRI)

A basket contains an assortment of whole, unprocessed maize and wheat kernels. (Photo: Alfonso Cortes/CIMMYT)

ICARDA’s Mustapha El-Bouhssini explains how crop pests are moving in a warming world

Written by Alison Doody on March 26, 2020. Posted in Videos. 2 Comments on ICARDA’s Mustapha El-Bouhssini explains how crop pests are moving in a warming world

Insect resistance in plants is needed now more than ever. The UN, which has named 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health, estimates that almost 40% of food crops are lost annually due to plant pests and diseases.

Earlier this month, a group of wheat breeders and entomologists came together for the 24th Biannual International Plant Resistance to Insects (IPRI) Workshop, held at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

We caught up with Mustapha El-Bouhssini, principal scientist at the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) to discuss insect pests and climate change. He explains how pests such as the Hessian fly — a destructive wheat pest which resembles a mosquito — and the chickpea pod borer are extending their geographical ranges in response to rising temperatures.

An assortment of whole, unprocessed maize and wheat kernels is displayed in a basket. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés/CIMMYT)

Whole grains

Written by Emma Orchardson on March 25, 2020. Posted in Explainers. 1 Comment on Whole grains

The most recent dietary guidelines provided by the World Health Organization and other international food and nutrition authorities recommend that half our daily intake of grains should come from whole grains. But what are whole grains, what are their health benefits, and where can they be found?

What are whole grains?

The grain or kernel of any cereal is made up of three edible parts: the bran, the germ and the endosperm.

Each part of the grain contains different types of nutrients.

The bran is the multi-layered outer skin of the edible kernel. It is fiber-rich and also supplies antioxidants, B vitamins, minerals like zinc, iron, magnesium, and phytochemicals — natural chemical compounds found in plants that have been linked to disease prevention.
The germ is the core of the seed where growth occurs. It is rich in lipids and contains vitamin E, as well as B vitamins, phytochemicals and antioxidants.
The largest portion of the kernel is the endosperm, an interior layer that holds carbohydrates, protein and smaller amounts of vitamins and minerals.

The grain or kernel of maize and wheat is made up of three edible parts: the bran, the germ and the endosperm. (Graphic: Nancy Valtierra/CIMMYT)

A whole grain is not necessarily an entire grain.

The concept is mainly associated with food products — which are not often made using intact grains — but there is no single, accepted definition of what constitutes a whole grain once parts of it have been removed.

Generally speaking, however, a processed grain is considered “whole” when each of the three original parts — the bran, germ and endosperm — are still present in the same proportions as when the original one. This definition applies to all cereals in the Poaceae family such as maize, wheat, barley and rice, and some pseudocereals including amaranth, buckwheat and quinoa.

Wholegrain vs. refined and enriched grain products

Refined grain products differ from whole grains in that some or all of the outer bran layers are removed by milling, pearling, polishing, or degerming processes and are missing one or more of their three key parts.

For example, white wheat flour is prepared with refined grains that have had their bran and germ removed, leaving only the endosperm. Similarly, if a maize kernel is degermed or decorticated — where both the bran and germ are removed — it becomes a refined grain.

The main purpose of removing the bran and germ is technological, to ensure finer textures in final food products and to improve their shelf life. The refining process removes the variety of nutrients that are found in the bran and germ, so many refined flours end up being enriched — or fortified — with additional, mostly synthetic, nutrients. However, some components such as phytochemicals cannot be replaced.

A hand holds grains of wheat. (Photo: Thomas Lumpkin/CIMMYT)

Are wholegrain products healthier than refined ones?

There is a growing body of research indicating that whole grains offer a number of health benefits which refined grains do not.

Bran and fiber slow the breakdown of starch into glucose, allowing the body to maintain a steady blood sugar level instead of causing sharp spikes. Fibers positively affect bowel movement and also help to reduce the incidence of cardiovascular diseases, the incidence of type 2 diabetes, the risk of stroke, and to maintain an overall better colorectal and digestive health. There is also some evidence to suggest that phytochemicals and essential minerals — such as copper and magnesium — found in the bran and germ may also help protect against some cancers.

Despite the purported benefits, consumption of some wholegrain foods may be limited by consumer perception of tastes and textures. The bran in particular contains intensely flavored compounds that reduce the softness of the final product and may be perceived to negatively affect overall taste and texture. However, these preferences vary greatly between regions. For example, while wheat noodles in China are made from refined flour, in South Asia most wheat is consumed wholegrain in the form of chapatis.

Popcorn is another example of a highly popular wholegrain food. It is a high-quality carbohydrate source that, consumed naturally, is not only low in calories and cholesterol, but also a good source of fiber and essential vitamins including folate, niacin, riboflavin, thiamin, pantothenic acid and vitamins B6, A, E and K. One serving of popcorn contains about 8% of the daily iron requirement, with lesser amounts of calcium, copper, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium and zinc.

Boiled and roasted maize commonly consumed in Africa, Asia and Latin America are other sources of wholegrain maize, as is maize which has been soaked in lime solution, or “nixtamalized.” Depending on the steeping time and method of washing the nixtamalized kernels, a portion of the grains used for milling could still be classed as whole.

Identifying wholegrain products

Whole grains are relatively easy to identify when dealing with unprocessed foods such as brown rice or oats. It becomes more complicated, however, when a product is made up of both whole and refined or enriched grains, especially as color is not an indicator. Whole wheat bread made using whole grains can appear white in color, for example, while multi-grain brown bread can be made primarily using refined flour.

In a bid to address this issue, US-based nonprofit consumer advocacy group the Whole Grains Council created a stamp designed to help consumers identify and select wholegrain products more easily. As of 2019, this stamp is used on over 13,000 products in 61 diﬀerent countries.

However, whether a product is considered wholegrain or not varies widely between countries and individual agencies, with a lack of industry standardization meaning that products are labelled inconsistently. Words such as “fiber,” “multigrain” and even “wholegrain” are often used on packaging for products which are not 100% wholegrain. The easiest way to check a product’s wholegrain content is to look at the list of ingredients and see if the flours used are explicitly designated as wholegrain. These are ordered by weight, so the first items listed are those contained more heavily in the product.

As a next step, an ad-hoc committee led by the Whole Grain Initiative is due to propose specific whole grain quantity thresholds to help establish a set of common criteria for food labelling. These are likely to be applied worldwide in the event that national definitions and regulations are not standardized.

Breaking Ground: Aparna Das leads efficient and demand-driven maize research

Written by Jérôme Bossuet on March 25, 2020. Posted in Features.

Getting a good maize harvest, or just enough to feed the family, has always been a challenge for maize small farmers in developing countries. Faced with variable rainfall, heat waves, insect attacks or diseases, they rarely yield more than two tons of maize per hectare, and sometimes lose their crops altogether. Climate change, invasive pests like fall armyworm or new diseases like maize lethal necrosis could jeopardize even further the livelihoods of maize farmers and trigger severe food crises.

In this scenario, the lives and income of maize farmers rely on good seeds: seeds that are climate-resilient, pest- and disease-resistant, and that grow and yield well under local conditions, often with minimum inputs.

“That is where the maize improvement research at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) plays a crucial role in this challenge of food security. You need to develop the right location-specific varieties that farmers want, that partner seed companies are willing to produce, in a cost- and time-efficient way,” says Aparna Das. She joined CIMMYT’s Global Maize research program in August 2018 as Technical Program Manager.

“My role is to work with and guide the Breeding and Seed Systems team, so that our research is more client- and product-oriented, efficient, and so that there is a better coordination and monitoring, aligned with the available resources and skills within CIMMYT, and with our numerous public and private partners,” she explains.

Value-for-money farmer impact

An important activity Das coordinated recently is a series of collaborative product profiling workshops with CIMMYT’s partners. Integrating the priorities of the national agricultural research systems and partner seed companies, this exercise reviewed and redefined what maize traits and attributes research should focus on in years to come. After this consultation, partners not only pick up CIMMYT germplasm based on trial data, but they can also verify if it fits with their own profile, to make sure that the traits they want are there. It makes breeding much more targeted and efficient.

“Product profiling has already influenced our research. For instance, all partners mentioned husk cover as a ‘must-have’ trait, because you have less insect attacks and grain spoilage,” Das explains. “Although it was considered a base trait, the breeders did not consider it systematically during their maize line selection and product advancement. Now it is integrated,” she notes.

“Our impact should not be limited to the number of varieties released or the number of papers published, but also how many varieties are picked up by partners, adopted by farmers and scaled up,” Das points out.

Breeders and seed systems specialists have worked together to estimate and track the costs of delivering products. Teams responsible for product profiles can now, through simulation, test different solutions and see what costs could be reduced or adjusted to develop the hybrid.

Das enjoys this type of collaboration. “Managing behavioral change is a key part of my role, being able to work with different teams and cultures, which makes my job so interesting,” she says.

Plates of boiled and roasted maize are displayed for tasting during a farmer participatory varietal selection exercise in Embu, Kenya, in August 2019. Flavors of varieties are very distinct and could explain why some old varieties are still preferably grown by farmers. (Photo: S. Palmas/CIMMYT)

An out-of-the-book thinker in a men’s world

Plant breeding is a male-dominated world but Das is used to fitting in as a minority. Originally from West Bengal, she grew up in Ludhiana, another Indian state and a different culture. She learned genetics and plant breeding at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) in Ludhiana. Discovering the new field of molecular breeding, at its infancy twenty-five years ago, was an exciting challenge.

At PAU, Das pursued crop improvement research, first in wheat and potato, and later in rice genetics. She received an award from India’s Department of Science and Technology under the Young Scientist Program for her work on jumping genes in basmati rice, aimed at creating shorter and more productive basmati varieties while maintaining the basmati aroma.

Later she joined the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) to work on the development of Golden Rice, a provitamin A-rich variety, through genetic engineering.

“Being a woman in plant breeding, especially as a breeder, is not that common. Women are not expected to do plant breeding fieldwork, away from the lab and offices. But I did not back off. I did my rice fieldwork in the paddy fields, at 40 degrees, all on my own. I believe that women bring a level of precision that is very important in breeding.”

Bridging public and private sectors

After ten years of public research, she moved to the private seed sector, to learn how seed companies integrate farmers’ needs to their research pipeline, and then channel this research to deliver to millions of farmers. “A big lesson from corporations is the value for money at each stage of their research, and that market research is instrumental to really understand farmers’ needs and guide breeding,” she notes.

After a decade in the private sector, Das was keen to move on and use her experience in the nonprofit sector. Then she joined CIMMYT. “This opportunity of technical program manager was timely. I knew the strengths of CGIAR, having highly educated scientists and the great potential outreach of the research. I knew where crop research could be improved, in converting basic research into demand-driven research.”

“Since my time at IRRI a decade ago, I realized things had moved on in the CGIAR system. Seed systems, product profiling and value chain research are now fully integrated in the Global Maize program. It is a crucial time to be here at CIMMYT. With the CGIAR reform, with the climate emergency, and emerging pests and diseases, we have to be even more inventive and reactive to continue to deliver greater impact,” she concludes.

A researcher collects field data at CIMMYT’s experiment station in Ciudad Obregón, Mexico. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés/CIMMYT)

New publications: Breeders can benefit much more from phenotyping tools

Written by Emma Orchardson on March 24, 2020. Posted in Publications.

In crop research fields, it is now a common sight to see drones or other high-tech sensing tools collecting high-resolution data on a wide range of traits — from simple measurement of canopy temperature to complex 3D reconstruction of photosynthetic canopies.

This technological approach to collecting precise plant trait information, known as phenotyping, is becoming ubiquitous, but according to experts at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and other research institutions, breeders can profit much more from these tools, when used judiciously.

In a new article in the journal Plant Science, CIMMYT researchers outline the different ways in which phenotyping can assist breeding — from large-scale screening to detailed physiological characterization of key traits — and why this methodology is crucial for crop improvement.

“While having been the subject of debate in the past, extra investment for phenotyping is becoming more accepted to capitalize on recent developments in crop genomics and prediction models,” explain the authors.

Their review considers different contexts for phenotyping, including breeding, exploration of genetic resources, parent building and translations research to deliver other new breeding resources, and how these different categories of phenotyping apply to each. Some of the same tools and rules of thumb apply equally well to phenotyping for genetic analysis of complex traits and gene discovery.

The authors make the case for breeders to invest in phenotyping, particularly in light of the imperative to breed crops for warmer and harsher climates. However, wide scale adoption of sophisticated phenotyping methods will only occur if new techniques add efficiency and effectiveness.

In this sense, “breeder-friendly” phenotyping should complement existing breeding approaches by cost-effectively increasing throughput during segregant selection and adding new sources of validated complex traits to crossing blocks. With this in mind, stringent criteria need to be applied before new traits or phenotyping protocols are incorporated into mainstream breeding pipelines.

Read the full article in Plant Science:
Breeder friendly phenotyping.

A researcher flies a UAV to collect field data at CIMMYT’s experiment station in Ciudad Obregón, Mexico. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés/CIMMYT)

See more recent publications from CIMMYT researchers:

Genome-wide association study to identify genomic regions influencing spontaneous fertility in maize haploids. 2019. Chaikam, V., Gowda, M., Nair, S.K., Melchinger, A.E., Prasanna, B.M. In: Euphytica v. 215, no. 8, art. 138.
Adapting irrigated and rainfed wheat to climate change in semi-arid environments: management, breeding options and land use change. 2019. Hernandez-Ochoa, I.M., Pequeno, D.N.L., Reynolds, M.P., Md Ali Babar, Sonder, K., Molero, A., Hoogenboom, G., Robertson, R., Gerber, S., Rowland, D.L., Fraisse, C.W., Asseng, S. In: European Journal of Agronomy.
Integrating genomic resources to present full gene and putative promoter capture probe sets for bread wheat. 2019. Gardiner, L.J., Brabbs, T., Akhunova, A., Jordan, K., Budak, H., Richmond, T., Sukhwinder-Singh, Catchpole, L., Akhunov, E., Hall, A.J.W. In: GigaScience v. 8, no. 4, art. giz018.
Rethinking technological change in smallholder agriculture. 2019. Glover, D., Sumberg, J., Ton, G., Andersson, J.A., Badstue, L.B. In: Outlook on Agriculture v. 48, no. 3, p. 169-180.
Food security and agriculture in the Western Highlands of Guatemala. 2019. Lopez-Ridaura, S., Barba‐Escoto, L., Reyna, C., Hellin, J. J., Gerard, B., Wijk, M.T. van. In: Food Security v. 11, no. 4, p. 817-833.
Agronomic, economic, and environmental performance of nitrogen rates and source in Bangladesh’s coastal rice agroecosystems. 2019. Shah-Al Emran, Krupnik, T.J., Kumar, V., Ali, M.Y., Pittelkow, C. M. In: Field Crops Research v. 241, art. 107567.
Highlights of special issue on “Wheat Genetics and Breeding”. 2019. He Zhonghu, Zhendong Zhao, Cheng Shun-He In: Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering v. 6, no. 3, p. 207-209.
Progress in breeding for resistance to Ug99 and other races of the stem rust fungus in CIMMYT wheat germplasm. 2019. Bhavani, S., Hodson, D.P., Huerta-Espino, J., Randhawa, M.S., Singh, R.P. In: Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering v. 6, no. 3, p. 210-224.
China-CIMMYT collaboration enhances wheat improvement in China. 2019. He Zhonghu, Xianchun Xia, Yong Zhang, Zhang Yan, Yonggui Xiao, Xinmin Chen, Li Simin, Yuanfeng Hao, Rasheed, A, Zhiyong Xin, Zhuang Qiaosheng, Ennian Yang, Zheru Fan, Yan Jun, Singh, R.P., Braun, H.J. In: Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering v. 6. No. 3, p. 233-239.
International Winter Wheat Improvement Program: history, activities, impact and future. 2019. Morgounov, A.I., Ozdemir, F., Keser, M., Akin, B., Payne, T.S., Braun, H.J. In: Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering v. 6, no. 3, p. 240-250.
Genetic improvement of wheat grain quality at CIMMYT. 2019. Guzman, C., Ammar, K., Velu, G., Singh, R.P. In: Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering v. 6, no. 3, p. 265-272.
Comments on special issue on “Wheat Genetics and Breeding”. 2019. He Zhonghu, Liu Xu In: Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering, v. 6. No. 3, p. 309.
Spectral reflectance indices as proxies for yield potential and heat stress tolerance in spring wheat: heritability estimates and marker-trait associations. 2019. Caiyun Liu, Pinto Espinosa, F., Cossani, C.M., Sukumaran, S., Reynolds, M.P. In: Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering, v. 6, no. 3, p. 296-308.
Beetle and maize yield response to plant residue application and manual weeding under two tillage systems in northern Zimbabwe. 2019. Mashavakure, N., Mashingaidze, A.B., Musundire, R., Gandiwa, E., Thierfelder, C., Muposhi, V.K. In: Applied Soil Ecology v. 144, p. 139-146.
Optimizing dry-matter partitioning for increased spike growth, grain number and harvest index in spring wheat. 2019. Rivera Amado, A.C., Trujillo, E., Molero, G., Reynolds, M.P., Sylvester Bradley, R., Foulkes, M.J. In: Field Crops Research v. 240, p. 154-167.
Small businesses, potentially large impacts: the role of fertilizer traders as agricultural extension agents in Bangladesh. 2019. Mottaleb, K.A., Rahut, D.B., Erenstein, O. In: Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies v. 9, no. 2, p. 109-124.
Heterogeneous seed access and information exposure: implications for the adoption of drought-tolerant maize varieties in Uganda. 2019. Simtowe, F.P., Marenya, P. P., Amondo, E., Regasa, M.W., Rahut, D.B., Erenstein, O. In: Agricultural and Food Economics v. 7. No. 1, art. 15.
Hyperspectral reflectance-derived relationship matrices for genomic prediction of grain yield in wheat. 2019. Krause, M., Gonzalez-Perez, L., Crossa, J., Perez-Rodriguez, P., Montesinos-Lopez, O.A., Singh, R.P., Dreisigacker, S., Poland, J.A., Rutkoski, J., Sorrells, M.E., Gore, M.A., Mondal, S. In: G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics v.9, no. 4, p. 1231-1247.
Unravelling the complex genetics of karnal bunt (Tilletia indica) resistance in common wheat (Triticum aestivum) by genetic linkage and genome-wide association analyses. 2019. Emebiri, L.C., Sukhwinder-Singh, Tan, M.K., Singh, P.K., Fuentes Dávila, G., Ogbonnaya, F.C. In: G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics v. 9, no. 5, p. 1437-1447.
Healthy foods as proxy for functional foods: consumers’ awareness, perception, and demand for natural functional foods in Pakistan. 2019. Ali, A., Rahut, D.B. In: International Journal of Food Science v. 2019, art. 6390650.
Northern Himalayan region of Pakistan with cold and wet climate favors a high prevalence of wheat powdery mildew. 2019. Khan, M.R., Imtiaz, M., Farhatullah, Ahmad, S., Sajid Ali.In: Sarhad Journal of Agriculture v. 35, no. 1, p. 187-193.
Resistance to insect pests in wheat—rye and Aegilops speltoides Tausch translocation and substitution lines. 2019. Crespo-Herrera, L.A., Singh, R.P., Sabraoui, A., Moustapha El Bouhssini In: Euphytica v. 215, no. 7, art.123.
Productivity and production risk effects of adopting drought-tolerant maize varieties in Zambia. 2019. Amondo, E., Simtowe, F.P., Rahut, D.B., Erenstein, O. In: International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management v. 11, no. 4, p. 570-591.
Review: new sensors and data-driven approaches—A path to next generation phenomics. 2019. Roitsch, T., Cabrera-Bosquet, L., Fournier, A., Ghamkhar, K., Jiménez-Berni, J., Pinto Espinosa, F., Ober, E.S. In: Plant Science v. 282 p. 2-10.
Accountability mechanisms in international climate change financing. 2019. Basak, R., van der Werf, E. In: International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics v. 19, no. 3, p. 297-313.
Enhancing the rate of genetic gain in public-sector plant breeding programs: lessons from the breeder’s equation. 2019. Cobb, J.N., Juma, R.U., Biswas, P.S., Arbelaez, J.D., Rutkoski, J., Atlin, G.N., Hagen, T., Quinn, M., Eng Hwa Ng. In: Theoretical and Applied Genetics v. 132, no. 3, p. 627-645.

Participants of the Fighting Back Against Fall Armyworm trainings learning to collect field data through the Fall Armyworm Monitor web app in a farmer's field in Chauadanga, Bangladesh. (Photo: Uttam Kumar/CIMMYT)

Crowdsourced data feeds fall armyworm surveillance in Bangladesh

Written by Matthew O'Leary on March 20, 2020. Posted in Features.

Following the spread of fall armyworm, crowdsourced data is powering a web-based application to help farmers in Bangladesh stay ahead of the crop pest.

The Fall Armyworm Monitor collects population, incidence and severity data, and guides pest management decisions. The web tool relies on information gathered by farmers using smartphones in their fields.

It was developed by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in cooperation with Bangladesh’s Department of Agricultural Extension, through the Fighting Back Against Fall Armyworm project, supported by USAID and Michigan State University.

When a foreign caterpillar first munched through Muhammad Hasan Ali’s maize field during the winter 2018-2019 season, he was stumped as to what it was or how to manage it. All he knew was his harvest and the investment he made in growing his crop was at risk.

“I’d never seen this type of insect in previous seasons, but I soon learned from government extension workers it was the fall armyworm,” explained Hasan Ali, a farmer from rural Chuadanga, in western Bangladesh. When poorly managed, fall armyworm can significantly reduce maize productivity.

Hasan Ali asked to join a training program, where he learned how to identify, monitor and control the spread of the invasive and voracious crop pest. The training, mainly tailored to extension staff, was facilitated by CIMMYT and Bangladesh’s Department of Agricultural Extension.

Participants of the Fighting Back Against Fall Armyworm trainings learning to collect field data through the Fall Armyworm Monitor web app in a farmer’s field in Chauadanga, Bangladesh. (Photo: Uttam Kumar/CIMMYT)

Participants and instructors of the Fighting Back Against Fall Armyworm trainings participate in a field session to work with the Fall Armyworm Monitor web app in Chauadanga, Bangladesh. (Photo: Uttam Kumar/CIMMYT)

Equipped to fight the pest

Extension staff and farmers gained valuable insights into different methods of control, including management of small and large patches of insect attack.

“I learned to identify fall armyworms in my field — and how to use hand picking methods and appropriate application of insecticide for control,” said Hasan Ali.

Farmers also learned how to set up pheromone traps to monitor pest populations and to use smartphones to make data-driven integrated pest management decisions using a cloud-based monitoring platform.

Crowdsourced information on the movement of fall armyworm is essential for effectively monitoring its spread and is a pivotal step in its management, said CIMMYT Senior Scientist and Systems Agronomist Timothy Krupnik.

“Farmers in top maize growing regions are working with extension officers to monitor traps and report findings weekly by entering data into smartphones,” Krupnik said.

Pheromones are natural compounds emitted by female moths to attract males for mating. Synthetic compounds that mimic natural fall armyworm pheromones are placed in traps to lure and capture male moths, after which extension agents count moths, enter, and upload data in their districts. At the time of writing, 649 staff from the Department of Agricultural Extension are reporting weekly moth count and pest damage data.

“Pest management practices are best when they are data-driven,” Krupnik explained. “Having information on the geographical location, plant growth stage and severity of infestation provides an informed base from which appropriate decisions can be made, with the ultimate goal of reducing pesticide misuse.”

“We are also excited as the data are open-access, and we are working to share them with FAO and other partners crucial in fall armyworm response,” he added.

The Fall Armyworm Monitor gives moth count and other data at the division, district and upazilla levels. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Data for better decisions

“The website hosts real-time data and depicts them graphically and in maps depending on user’s preferences. This information — which was core to the training extension agents participated in — is key for integrated pest management strategies,” explained Mutasim Billah, CIMMYT Data Specialist and the lead developer of the application.

“The department of extension services have employed 253 officers to visit fields with handheld smart devices in 25 districts to upload data,” said Billah. “The online tool stores data entries in its server and calculates the aggregated value for division, district and sub-district level on a weekly basis, and shows the estimated values through charts and in tabular format.”

The Fall Armyworm Monitor has become an essential tool for government officials to aid farmers in managing the pest which so far has been successful, said Bijoy Krishna Halder, additional Deputy Director of Plant Protection with the Bangladesh government.

“CIMMYT’s web portal is a very efficient way to collect data from the field. Anyone can access the page to see the overall condition of infestation across the country,”said Krishna Halder. “I check the portal every week about the fall armyworm condition and now it shows that the infestation is low with the overall field conditions good.”

The pest native to the Americas has become a global menace as it has spread attacking crops through Africa, and Asia, threatening the food and economic security of smallholder farmers.

Visit the Bangladesh Fall Armyworm Monitor.

The Fall Armyworm Monitor was created as part of the new Fighting Back Against Fall Armyworm in Bangladesh project is aligned with Michigan State University’s Borlaug Higher Education for Agricultural Research and Development (BHEARD) program, which supports the long-term training of agricultural researchers in USAID’s Feed the Future priority countries.

A farmer checks the drip irrigation system at his rice field in India. (Photo: Hamish John Appleby/IWMI)

Systems thinking at work in South Asia’s food production

Written by Emma Orchardson on March 20, 2020. Posted in News. 1 Comment on Systems thinking at work in South Asia’s food production

In 2009, state governments in Northwest India implemented a policy designed to reduce groundwater extraction by prohibiting the usual practice of planting rice in May and moving it to June, nearer the start of monsoon rains.

Although the policy did succeed in alleviating pressure on groundwater, it also had the unexpected effect of worsening already severe air pollution. The reason for this, according to a recent study published in Nature Sustainability, is that the delay in rice planting narrowed the window between rice harvest and sowing of the subsequent crop — mainly wheat — leaving farmers little time to remove rice straw from the field and compelling them to burn it instead.

Even though burning crop residues is prohibited in India, uncertainty about the implementation of government policy and a perceived lack of alternatives have perpetuated the practice in Haryana and Punjab states, near the nation’s capital, New Delhi, where air pollution poses a major health threat.

Land preparation on a rice field with a two-wheel tractor. (Photo: Vedachalam Dakshinamurthy/CIMMYT)

A farmer uses a tractor fitted with a Happy Seeder. (Photo: Vedachalam Dakshinamurthy/CIMMYT)

A farmer checks the drip irrigation system at his rice field in India. (Photo: Hamish John Appleby/IWMI)

Wheat crop in conservation agriculture. (Photo: Vedachalam Dakshinamurthy/CIMMYT)

A farmer ploughs a rice field with a water buffalo. (Photo: Licensed from Digitalpress – Dreamstime.com; Image 11205929)

Decades of research for development have enabled researchers at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and other partners to identify potential solutions to this problem.

One particularly viable option focuses on the practice of zero tillage, in which wheat seed is sown immediately after rice harvest through the rice straw directly into untilled soil with a single tractor pass.

In a new blog published as part of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs’ Field Notes series, CIMMYT scientists Hans Braun and Bruno Gerard discuss the combination of agronomic and breeding conditions required to make zero tillage work, and propose a fundamental shift away from current incentives to maximize the region´s cereal production.

Read the full article:
Field Notes – Systems thinking at work in South Asia’s food production

One-minute science: Suchismita Mondal on breeding resilient wheat

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on March 19, 2020. Posted in Videos.

Reduced water availability for irrigation and increasing temperatures are of great concern. These two factors can considerably affect wheat production and reduce grain yields.

Watch CIMMYT Wheat Breeder Suchismita Mondal explain — in just one minute — how breeders are developing wheat varieties that have stable grain yield under low water availability and high temperatures.

In new hostile climate, drought-tolerant crops, systems needed on unprecedented scale

Written by Mary Donovan on March 12, 2020. Posted in In the media.

Last year, droughts devastated staple food crops across the developing world, cutting production by about half in some countries. A stream of reports from Central America, Eastern and Southern Africa as well as the Asia-Pacific region painted a grim picture of suffering and upheaval.

Extreme weather, with its appalling consequences, demands an extraordinary response. Redoubled efforts must focus on building resilience into the developing world´s major food systems.

Africa’s devastating locust outbreak exposes need for crop science on all fronts

Written by Mary Donovan on March 10, 2020. Posted in In the media.

Behind every farmer dealing with a crop pest is a scientist who has supported them by developing better seeds, crop protection methods and apps to identify weeds.

Members of a women's group in Nigeria. (Photo: C. de Bode/CGIAR)

For a food system at risk, women are key yet often overlooked

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on March 9, 2020. Posted in Features.

On March 8, the world celebrates International Women’s Day, and the 25^th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the most progressive roadmap for the empowerment of women and girls, everywhere. In an op-ed in The Independent, Claudia Sadoff, CGIAR Gender Champion and Director General of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), declares that our climate change-ravaged food systems cannot wait for the gradual progress of gender quality.

From locust swarms, hurricanes, wildfires and emerging famines, climate-related disasters are taking place around the world and our fragile food systems are on the front line.

Our food systems are in need of urgent support, and rural women play a critical role in reversing the problem. Research has found that rural women are disproportionately impacted by the effects of climate change, yet their significant contributions to food systems receive only a fraction of the focus they deserve.

Rural women are hamstrung by gender bias in food systems, home life, economics and culture. Barriers to accessing finance, insurance, high-quality seed, fertilizer, additional labor and markets result in women producing 20-30% less per hectare than men.

Women’s unpaid daily household tasks are often backbreaking and time-consuming. Women are responsible for collecting water and fuel for cooking and tending kitchen gardens and family-owned livestock. With African women producing up to 80% of food for their household, these women have less opportunity to grow and sell foods at market to improve their financial position.

Breaking free of this gender bias requires a rethink on how rural women are reflected in, and participate in, society at large, says Sadoff in her op-ed, published in The Independent on March 7, 2020.

So, what does this rethink look like? How can we enable women and, in the process, strengthen our food systems?

Sadoff has summarized this huge undertaking into three key steps: (1) Ensure rural women can invest in productivity in their farms, (2) ease the burden of daily household tasks, and (3) build research systems and cultures to be more gender equitable in the long run.

Through One CGIAR and the Generating Evidence and New Directors for Equitable Results (GENDER) Platform, we are proud to say that we are working together to achieve these three objectives. Closing the gender gap completely will not happen in a generation but taking steps towards achieving greater gender equality will help to build the resilience of our food systems, bolster rural economies and improve rural livelihoods.

With UN Women, One CGIAR supports #GenerationEquality, for the benefit of all.

Read Claudia Sadoff’s article on The Independent:
Unless we empower women farmers, we may not have enough to feed the planet.

This summary was originally published on the CGIAR website:
For a food system at risk, women are key yet often overlooked.

Cover photo: C. de Bode/CGIAR.