As staple foods, maize and wheat provide vital nutrients and health benefits, making up close to two-thirds of the worldâs 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 worldâs 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.
Land acquisitions by foreign and local investor farmers has generated much speculation about the impacts on smallholder households and rural communities.
Jordan Chamberlin, a Spatial Economist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), and Thomas Jayne of Michigan State University conducted a study in Tanzania to assess whether medium and large-scale farms generate income spillovers for rural households.
The study looks at inter-district variation in farmland distribution patterns in Tanzania to determine the impact of localized farm structure on rural household incomes. It uses using three rounds of panel data from the Tanzanian National Panel Survey (2009, 2011 and 2013). Because farm structure is a multifaceted concept, five alternative indicators of farm structure are used in the analysis: the Gini coefficient, skewness, coefficient of variation, share of controlled farmland under medium-scale farms, and share of controlled farmland under large farms.
The study highlights four main findings. First, most indicators of farmland concentration are positively associated with rural household incomes, after controlling for other factors. Second, household incomes from farm, agricultural wage and non-farm sources are positively and significantly associated with the share of land in the district controlled by 5-10-hectare farms. Third, these positive spillover benefits are smaller and less statistically significant in districts with a relatively high share of farmland controlled by farms over 10 hectares in size. Fourth, poor rural households are least able to capture the positive spillovers generated by medium-scale farms and by concentrated farmland patterns.
Research partners to develop new maize hybrid seed production system to help smallholder farmers access modern, high quality maize hybrid seed.
Pretoria, South Africa, 26 October 2018â An initiative launched in 2016 seeks to provide African smallholder farmers with better quality and high yielding hybrid maize seed. The Seed Production Technology for Africa (SPTA) initiative strives to improve seed production systems to ensure that high-quality hybrid maize seed is available to smallholder farmers, as well as to deliver new hybrids with a high yield potential adapted for low fertility areas common in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).
SPTA will utilize a technology provided by Corteva Agriscience, and implemented by the Agricultural Research Council of South Africa (ARC) alongside the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), and the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO). Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the four-year initiative will cost US$ 6.4 million.
âAs Africa faces significant challenges of low maize yields, climatic extremes and variability, costly farm inputs, threats due to pests and diseases, and growing demand for food, it is critical to provide smallholder farmers with access to high quality and stress resilient modern maize hybrids to allow them to increase yields and incomes,â said Kingstone Mashingaidze, Senior Research Manager at ARC.
The SPTA process will address pressing seed production concerns in the region that include insufficient genetic purity due to pollen contamination resulting from improper or incomplete detasseling practices. As a result, small and medium seed companies are expected to produce greater volume of hybrid maize seed at lower cost. Partner seed companies in the region will access the technology royalty free.
Maize productivity in Africa lags behind other maize producing regions, and through SPTA more smallholders will improve their yield. Average maize yield in much of Africa is approximately 2 metric tons per hectare, which is less than 20 percent of the yield level in more productive parts of the world. Farmers cannot access or afford high quality seed. Only 57 percent of the SSA maize growing area is planted with recently purchased seed; a lot of hybrids grown in the region are obsolete – 15 years or older compared to an average of less than 5 years in highly productive regions. In many situations, seeds of these older varieties are no longer suited for the climate and cropping environments that exist today.
Hybrid maize seed delivered through SPTA will have higher yield in low fertility environments. This will enable resource-constrained farmers to harvest more despite limited inputs like fertilizer. This means stronger livelihoods coupled with improved professionalism in the maize seed value chain for farmers, seed companies, consumers, and governments to deliver a more food-secure future.
SPTA originated from the Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS) project that concluded in 2015. IMAS focused on developing maize hybrids that could use nitrogen fertilizer more efficiently to deliver higher yields under low fertility conditions prevalent in Africa. The IMAS project was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation together with the United States Agency for International Development.
Issued by Agricultural Research Council
For more information contact:
Agricultural Research Council (South Africa)
Mary James
Tel: +27 (0) 18 299 6100, Cell: +27 84Â 817 2376, Email: JamesM@arc.agric.za
Corteva Agriscience (South Africa)
Barbra Muzata
Tel: +27-11-218-8600, Email: barbra.Muzata@pioneer.com
Notes to editors:
The Agricultural Research Council (ARC), a schedule 3A public entity, is a premier science institution that conducts research with partners, develops human capital and fosters innovation in support of the agricultural sector. The Agricultural Research Council provides diagnostic, laboratory, analytical, agricultural engineering services, post-harvest technology development, agrochemical evaluation, consultation and advisory services, food processing technology services as well as various surveys and training interventions. ARC has successfully collaborated with international partners in the WEMA project. ARC has successful partnerships with local seed companies for deployment of its products to smallholder farmers. For more information, visit the website at www.arc.agric.za
Corteva Agriscienceâą, Agriculture Division of DowDuPont (NYSE: DWDP), is intended to become an independent, publicly traded company when the spinoff is complete by June 2019. The division combines the strengths of DuPont Pioneer, DuPont Crop Protection and Dow AgroSciences. Corteva Agriscienceâą provides growers around the world with the most complete portfolio in the industry â including some of the most recognized brands in agriculture: PioneerÂź, EncircaÂź, the newly launched Brevantâą Seeds, as well as award-winning Crop Protection products â while bringing new products to market through our solid pipeline of active chemistry and technologies. More information can be found at www.corteva.com.
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is the global leader in publicly-funded maize and wheat research and related farming systems. Headquartered near Mexico City, CIMMYT works with hundreds of partners throughout the developing world to sustainably increase the productivity of maize and wheat cropping systems, thus improving global food security and reducing poverty. CIMMYT is a member of the CGIAR System and leads the CGIAR Research Programs on Maize and Wheat, and the Excellence in Breeding Platform. The Center receives support from national governments, foundations, development banks and other public and private agencies.
Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) is a corporate body created under the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Act of 2013 to establish suitable legal and institutional framework for coordination of agricultural research in Kenya with the following goals: Promote, streamline, co-ordinate and regulate research in crops, livestock, genetic resources and biotechnology in Kenya, and expedite equitable access to research information, resources and technology and promote the application of research findings and technology in the field of agriculture.
DES MOINES (Iowa) â Hundreds of food and agriculture leaders from around the world gathered last week in Iowa, USA, for the 2018 edition of the Borlaug Dialogue. Much of the conversation this year was centered on how to âtake it to the farmer,â as Norman Borlaug famously said. Experts discussed how to build sustainable seed systems, grounded on solid science, so improved varieties reach smallholder farmers.
General view of the 2018 Borlaug Dialogue venue. (Photo: World Food Prize)
Louise Sperling, senior technical advisor at Catholic Relief Services, presented a study on the sources of seed for smallholder farmers in Africa. She explained that 52.2 percent of households receive new varieties, but only 2.8 percent of the seed comes through agro-dealers. The biggest source is local markets and own stock, the so-called informal channels.
Quality and variety of seed should be the focus, emphasized Jean Claude Rubyogo, seed systems specialist at CIAT. In his view, we need to integrate formal and informal seed distribution channels, using the competitive advantages of each.
âWhen we take good seed, we address all African soil,â said Ruth Oniang’o, board chair at the Sasakawa Africa Foundation. Oniang’o explained access to financing is a major hurdle for smallholders to access better seed and other innovations. In her view, current financial products are inadequate. âWhy should we get a farmer to pay 20 percent interest rates on a small loan?â
B.J. Marttin, member of the managing board of Rabobank Group, recommended financial institutions to partner with farmers through every stage, from production to sale, so they better understand risk and the whole value chain. Simon Winter, executive director of the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture, captured the main points from the session on financing for agricultural entrepreneurs. âWe have to have the farmer at the center. The farmer is the ultimate customer,â Winter said. âIf we are not serving farmer needs, we are not really solving the problems.â
Research to feed the world
The 2018 Global Agricultural Productivity (GAP) Report, presented at the Borlaug Dialogue, shows the growing gap between future food supply needs and agricultural production, particularly in low-income countries. To meet the projected food needs of nearly 10 billion people in 2050, global agricultural productivity must increase by 1.75 percent annually, the report states, but has only increased 1.51 percent annually since 2010.
A plenary session led by CGIAR explored the role of research in tackling this and other complex challenges. âWe have to talk about food and agriculture research,â said former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman. People need to understand research is not abstract academic knowledge, but rather useful innovation that goes âfrom the farm, to the table and to the stomach,â he explained.
âInnovation, no matter where you are in the world, is key to moving forward,â said Patience Koku, a farmer from Nigeria part of the Global Farmer Network. âI donât think the farmers in Africa or in Nigeria need a lot of convincingâ to adopt innovation, Koku noted. If someone is able to explain what a new technology can do, âfarmers see that science can make their life better and embrace it.â
Rising to the challenge
Agricultural research is also crucial to confront global threats like pests, conflict and climate change.
A session led by CIMMYT presented the latest research and actions against fall armyworm. (Photo: Rodrigo Ordóñez/CIMMYT)
Two separate sessions, hosted by Corteva Agriscience and CIMMYT, shared the latest approaches in the fight against fall armyworm and other pests and diseases. The Director General of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Martin Kropff, explained how organizations are working together to respond to the rapid spread of fall armyworm in Africa and Asia. âWe have to solve the problem based on science, and then develop, validate and deploy integrated pest management approaches,â Kropff said.
As part of the World Food Prize outreach program, Bram Govaerts, director of innovative business strategies at CIMMYT, gave a lecture to students at Brody Middle School about the importance of agriculture and food. “When people can’t grow crops or pay for food to feed their families, desperation turns to conflict.”
At a side event, the Economist Intelligence Unit presented the Global Food Security Index 2018, which ranks food systems in 113 countries based on affordability, availability, and quality and safety. Senior consultant Robert Powell explained that the index now includes an adjustment factor based on each countryâs natural resource risks and resilience to the impacts of a changing climate. âAll countries will experience the impact of climate change,â Powell said.
The pernicious effects of climate change were also evident to the 2018 World Food Prize winners, David Nabarro and Lawrence Haddad, who have led global efforts to curb child malnutrition. âThere is no evidence to me that [this] crisis is going to stop, because climate change is here,â Nabarro declared. âThe foods we choose to grow and eat have a large impact on emissions,â Haddad said. âFood has a lot to offerâ on climate mitigation and âdiversity is the secret sauceâ for climate adaptation. âWe need food systems that are diverse: in crops, locations, organizations involved in themâŠâ
Less biodiversity translates into âless resilience and worse nutrition,â according to the Vice President of Peru, Mercedes ArĂĄoz. Through improved health and nutrition services, the country more than halved malnutrition among children under five, from 28 percent in 2008 to 13.1 percent in 2016.
2018 World Food Prize winners Lawrence Haddad (left) and David Nabarro speak during the award ceremony. (Photo: World Food Prize)
A rallying cry for nutrition
The impact of nutrition on the first 1,000 days of life lasts a lifetime, explained Haddad. âFor young kids, these are permanent shocks.â
âIf a person is not nourished in those very important weeks and months of life, the long-term consequences are likely to be irreversible,â Nabarro added. According to him, nutrition needs to be the target in the 2030 agenda, not only hunger.
âNutrition-based interventions present us a new lens through which to create and assess impact as agricultural researchers,â said Elwyn Grainger-Jones, the executive director of the CGIAR System Organization. âOur future success must come not only from ensuring an adequate supply of calories for the global population, but also the right quality and diversity of foods to tackle hidden hunger as well.â
âWe are not going to resolve the challenges of undernutrition without the ag sector stepping up in a big way and differently,â argued Shawn Baker, director of nutrition at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. âNutrition needs you,â Baker told other participants. âWelcome to the nutrition family.â
DES MOINES (Iowa) â At the plenary of the 2018 Borlaug Dialogue, a global panel of experts gave an overview of the origins of the fall armyworm, how it is spreading around the world, and how governments, farmers and researchers are fighting against this pest.
Pedro Sanchez, research professor in tropical soils at the University of Florida and 2002 World Food Prize Laureate, shared background information on the history of the fall armyworm and the early attempts to neutralize it, decades ago. He pointed out that once-resistant varieties were eventually affected by this pest.
The Director General of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Martin Kropff, shared the most recent developments and explained how organizations are working together to respond to this pest. “We want to have science-based, evidence-based solutions,” Kropff said. “We have to solve the problem based on science, and then to develop and validate and deploy integrated pest management technologies.”
The director general of the Ethiopian Institute of Agriculture, Mandefro Nigussie, reminded that in addition to affecting people and the environment, fall armyworm âis also affecting the future generation,â as children were pulled out of school to pick larvae.
The response against fall armyworm cannot be done by governments alone, panelists agreed. It requires the support of multiple actors: financing the research, producing research, promoting the results of the research and implementing appropriate measures.
Rob Bertram, chief scientist at USAID’s Bureau for Food Security predicted the fall armyworm will continue to be a “serious problem” as it moves and migrates.
The director general and CEO of the Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization, Eluid Kireger, emphasized the importance of global collaboration. âWe need to borrow the technologies that are already workingâ.
The fall armyworm was also discussed during the Corteva Agriscience Forum side event, on a session on “Crop security for food security”. The Director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program and the CGIAR Research Program on Maize, B.M. Prasanna, was optimistic about the efforts to tackle this voracious pest. âIâm 100 percent confident that the pest will be overcome, but it requires very solid synergistic and coordinated actions at the national level, at the regional level and at the continental level.â
CIMMYT is co-leading the Fall Armyworm R4D International Consortium. âFall armyworm is not going to be the only threat now and forever; there will be more insects, pests and pathogens moving around,” Prasanna said. “Global connectedness is exacerbating this kind of problem, but the solution lies also in global connectedness.â
Agricultural research for development has tremendous potential for widespread impact in poverty alleviation and food security. However, achieving real benefits for farmers is challenging and many well-intentioned projects fail to achieve large-scale impact. According to Brendan Brown, a postdoctoral research fellow with CIMMYTâs socioeconomics program in Nepal, this is where his work can help.
âThere have been decades of work trying to improve agricultural livelihoods, but many of these interventions are yet to have tangible impacts for farmers,â Brown said. âMy research seeks to help address this gap, using novel frameworks and applying participatory methods.â
Socioeconomic research at CIMMYT plays a key role at the nexus of agricultural innovations, helping to enhance interventions and initiatives for greater impact. Knowledge from such studies helps to prioritize and target resources, optimizing research capacity and accelerating the uptake of innovations.
âI attempt to understand constraints and opportunities at various scales from farms all the way up to institutional levels,â Brown explained. âI then seek to find pathways to catalyze change that lead to improved farmer livelihoods. Such research is integral to getting agronomic research into farmersâ fields.â
This area of research calls for a mixture of qualitative and quantitative tools and expertise, for which Brown is well suited. He has a bachelorâs degree in Agricultural Science with a major in Soil Science. âHowever, after working in agricultural research and development for a few years, I saw a gap in linking agronomy to the contextual realities of smallholder farming, so I opted to pursue a career that bridges the gap between the physical and social sciences.â
A desire to help
Brown grew up in Australia, between Sydney and a family farm on the south coast of New South Wales. He enjoyed being outdoors, âpreferably barefoot,â participated in hobby farming, and from an early age showed an interest in social justice issues. A career aptitude test taken towards the end of high school revealed he was suited to be one of three things: a ship captain, a nurse or an agricultural scientist. He opted for the latter.
It was at university that Brown gained the insight of applying his agricultural knowledge to helping smallholder farmers. During a backpacking trip from Cape Town to Cairo, which incorporated some agricultural volunteering, he witnessed first-hand the difficulties farmers face in sub-Saharan Africa. Upon returning to his studies, he resolved to pursue a career that would enable him to help smallholders and, at the same time, address some of the worldâs biggest ethical dilemmas.
Research with impact
Newly graduated, Brown worked with the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), based in Canberra, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), based in Ghana, where he gained hands-on experience working in agricultural systems in developing countries across Asia, Africa and the Middle East. It also inspired his PhD, which explored the disconnect between development work at research stations and the reality experienced by African farmers.
âDuring my PhD, I collaborated with CIMMYT through the Sustainable Intensification of Maize Legume Systems in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) initiative. I developed a more nuanced approach to what âadoptionâ actually means in terms of uptake and impact assessments. I also studied communitiesâ attitudes to conservation agriculture practices and diagnosed key institutional bottlenecks within research and extension systems.â
Brownâs studies allowed him to develop novel mixed methods and participatory impact pathways to promote new farming practices, such as conservation agriculture, to smallholder farmers in Africa. âMy work with CIMMYT allows me to contribute to solving some of the worldâs biggest issues. Through interacting with smallholders, facilitating conversations and creating new understanding, I hope to contribute to real change.â
Brendan Brown (left) during a field visit.
Moving to Asia
After spending nearly a decade in and out of Africa, he joined the CIMMYT team in Nepal earlier this year and is relishing the opportunity to explore new contexts in South Asia.
âSo much potential exists within the food systems of South Asia given the existence of multiple cropping seasons and diverse markets, as well as exciting developments in the use of mechanization and irrigation that have potential for delivering large-scale benefits, driving improved food security and profits.â However, he points out the integration of such innovations in this part of the world can be challenging due to inherent complex social hierarchies and caste systems. âI still have much to learn within such complex systems.â
Brownâs work in South Asia focusses on understanding the adoption, scaling and impact of sustainable intensification technologies and practices. He is primarily working with the Sustainable and Resilient Farming Systems Intensification (SRFSI) initiative, which aims to reduce poverty by making smallholder agriculture more productive, profitable and sustainable while safeguarding the environment and involving women in agriculture.
By studying the portfolio of CIMMYT-led initiatives in the region, he is also developing his understanding of prevailing sustainable intensification practices and the issues farmers face when implementing them. In addition to his work with SRFSI, Brown is soon to embark on a new ACIAR-funded research project aiming to enhance sustainable mechanization of farming systems in two provinces of Nepal by mobilizing strategic planning and collaboration.
âI look forward to sitting down with local agricultural service providers to understand how they run their businesses and how they structure their livelihoods,â Brown expressed. âThis will then be paired with the perspectives of farmers, as well as extension officers, researchers and policymakers to build theories of change and pathways to maximize the uptake and impact of sustainable intensification practices.â
He highlights how local ownership of change can be fostered by implementing participatory methods during this process. This can result in transformative change, felt from the institutional level all the way to the smallholder farmer. Brown hopes his work in South Asia will deliver widespread impact for smallholder farmers and he welcomes collaboration and sharing of ideas and approaches with others working towards similar objectives.
Blue maize is a ubiquitous aspect of Mexicoâs food culture, especially in the central highlands. Most of it is grown by small-scale farmers for local consumers who value it for its rich flavor and texture. But itâs also catching the attention of some food processing companies who are interested in its health benefits, as well as high-end culinary markets seeking authentic Mexican cuisine. Find out how CIMMYT researchers are helping Mexican farmers tap into two emerging markets that could boost incomes while conserving culture and biodiversity.
Over two billion people across the world suffer from hidden hunger, the consumption of a sufficient number of calories, but still lacking essential nutrients such as vitamin A, iron or zinc. This can lead to severe health damage, blindness, or even death, particularly among children under the age of five. Furthermore, a recent FAO report estimates the number of undernourished people worldwide at over 800 million, with severe food insecurity and undernourishment increasing in almost all sub-regions of Africa, as well as across South America.
In recognition of World Food Day and the focus of the 2018 World Food Prize on nutrition, the CGIAR Research Centers and Programs reflect on the significance and global impact of biofortification and climate resilient crops â key components in achieving Sustainable Development Goals 2: Zero Hunger and 3: Good Health and Wellbeing by 2030.
Biofortification enables scientists to fortify staple crops with micronutrients to address hidden hunger. There are now 290 new varieties of 12 biofortified crops â including maize, wheat and potatoes â being grown in 60 countries, reaching an estimated 10 million farming households.
The first biofortified maize variety was quality protein maize (QPM), developed by International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) scientists Evangelina Villegas and Surinder Vasal. QPM features enhanced levels of lysine and tryptophan, essential amino acids, which can help reduce malnutrition in children. Villegas and Vasal would later go on to win the World Food Prize in 2000 for this groundbreaking work, and genetic variation found in QPM would serve as the baseline for developing further biofortified products, such as zinc-enriched maize and vitamin A orange maize.
Biofortified, provitamin A enriched maize at an experimental plot in Zambia. Photo: CIMMYT
Several key factors have contributed to the success of biofortification. One is partnership. The CGIAR Centers work with hundreds of partners around the world, from national governments and research institutes through to non-governmental organizations and farmers on the ground. Other factors include the ability to build evidence and conduct thorough monitoring and evaluation, the maintenance of a clear vision on how research will have impact, and coordinated investment.
In considering the future role of biofortification in our evolving agricultural landscape, the article highlights the need to tie up with meeting global goals on sustainable development in terms of food security and improved nutrition, and the importance of âfuture proofingâ new varieties in the face of climate change.
In further support of biofortification, the UKâs Department for International Development (DFID) recognized the importance of CGIARâs world-renowned agricultural research in the fight to end global hunger. Support from DFID has been crucial to biofortification work in Africa as well as in the development of drought-tolerant maize by CIMMYT and the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE), which has increased farmersâ yields by up to 30 per cent, benefitting 20 million people in 13 African countries. Over 300 drought tolerant maize varieties were released by CIMMYT under the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project, which ran from 2006 to 2015, and continue to be scaled out and provide benefits to smallholder farmers in the region today. DFID also highlighted the impact of their support to CIMMYT and the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat (WHEAT) in the development of disease resistant wheat varieties that help avoid food shortages and exacerbated hunger worldwide.
After a prolonged decline in global hunger, findings pointing to a recent increase are alarming. Coupled with uncertainties surrounding food supply due to challenges like changing climates and ever-present crop pests and diseases, the challenges we face are significant. The development and deployment of crops biofortified with nourishing micronutrients and equipped to cope with abiotic and biotic stresses is of fundamental importance. The work of the CGIAR Centers and Research Programs is vital to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and to fuel the fight towards zero hunger by 2030.
DES MOINES (Iowa) â As winners of the 2018 World Food Prize, Lawrence Haddad and David Nabarro are being recognized today for their individual work in unifying global nutrition efforts and reducing child malnutrition during the first 1,000 days of life. With this award, food and agriculture leaders highlight the importance of linking food production and nutrition.
Haddadâs and Nabarroâs efforts were crucial in uniting food security policy and programs in the wake of the 2008 global food crisis, when wheat, maize and rice prices doubled. Haddad and Nabarro leapt into action, each rallying a broad group of food system stakeholders and development champions and pushing for the implementation of evidence-based policies.
Using economic and medical research, Haddad convinced leaders to make child and maternal nutrition a priority in the global food security agenda. Nabarro, a champion of public health at the United Nations, was directly responsible for uniting 54 countries and one Indian state under the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement.
The 2018 laureatesâ work significantly improved nutrition for mothers and children in the critical first 1,000 days of life â the period from pregnancy to a childâs second birthday. Their relentless leadership and advocacy inspired efforts by countless others to reduce childhood malnutrition. Between 2012 and 2017, the worldâs number of stunted children dropped by 10 million.
“I would like to personally congratulate Haddad and Nabarro for putting nutrition and healthy diets on the global agenda,” expressed Martin Kropff, the Director General of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). “Together, we have to strive to develop resilient agri-food systems that provide nutritious cereal-based diets.”
Food and agriculture leadership
The World Food Prize has been referred to as the âNobel Prize for food and agriculture.â Awarded by the World Food Prize Foundation, it recognizes individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world. Winners receive $250,000 in prize money.
The World Food Prize was founded in 1986 by Norman Borlaug, recipient of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize.
B.M. Prasanna and I joined colleagues at the 13th Asian Maize Conference and stressed the need for continued funding for maize research, keeping in mind climate change and the challenge of the insatiable fall armyworm, which spread to India this year.
On World Food Day, October 16, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) joins the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and partners around the world in their call to realize Sustainable Development Goal 2: Zero Hunger by 2030. Learn how CIMMYT, HarvestPlus and Semilla Nueva are working together to use biofortified zinc-enriched maize to reduce malnutrition in Guatemala, an important component of Goal 2.
Over 46 percent of children under five in Guatemala suffer from chronic malnutrition. More than 40 percent of the countryâs rural population is deficient in zinc, an essential micronutrient that plays a crucial role in pre-natal and post-natal development and is key to maintaining a healthy immune system. CIMMYT, HarvestPlus and Semilla Nueva are working together to change this, through the development and deployment of the worldâs first biofortified zinc-enriched maize.
Biofortified maize is a unique and efficient way of improving nutrition. As the nutrients occur naturally in the plant, consumers do not have to make any behavioral changes to get results. Rather than having to import supplements or fortify food, seeds and crops are sourced within the country, which makes this option more sustainable and accessible even in remote rural areas. It tastes the same as non-biofortified maize varieties and requires no special preparation methods. This made biofortification the obvious choice for improving zinc deficiency in Guatemala, and CIMMYT the obvious partner.
Developed by CIMMYT scientists Evangelina Villegas and Surinder Vasal, QPM has enhanced levels of lysine and tryptophan, essential amino acids, which can help reduce malnutrition in children. Villegas and Vasal would later go on to win the World Food Prize in 2000 for this groundbreaking work, and genetic variation found in QPM would serve as the baseline for developing zinc-enriched maize.
A maize plot of the Fortaleza F3 variety in Guatemala. Photo: Sarah Caroline Mueller.Â
After years of breeding work and research, the worldâs first biofortified zinc maize hybrid, ICTA HB-18, was released in Guatemala in May 2018. It was developed by CIMMYT, the CGIAR Research Programs on Maize (MAIZE) and Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH), and Guatemalaâs Institute for Agricultural Science and Technology (ICTA) with support from HarvestPlus. Commercialized by Semilla Nueva under the name Fortaleza F3, the biofortified zinc maize hybrid contains 6-12ppm more zinc and 2.5 times more quality protein compared to conventional maize varieties. An open pollinated variety, ICTA B-15, was also released.
Just 100 grams of tortilla made of either of these varieties can provide 2.5 milligrams of zinc, 50 percent of the daily recommended intake for children, making zinc-enriched biofortified maize an excellent tool in the fight against malnutrition and hidden hunger.
As CIMMYT is a breeding organization, it depends on national partners to get seeds to the farmers. That is where Semilla Nueva comes in. This non-profit social enterprise is working to get high yielding biofortified seeds to farmers in Guatemala.
RĂłmulo GonzĂĄlez’s daughter holds a corncob. Photo: Sarah Caroline Mueller.
The last mile
âWe need to be able to impact farmers with our improved germplasm,â said San Vicente. âSemilla Nueva takes us to the last mile, to the farmers, which alone we could not do, so that our breeding work can achieve impact in farmersâ fields and lives.â
Semilla Nueva targets commercial farmers in Guatemala, as they are the main source of maize consumed in the country. Typically, a quarter of their harvest is consumed at home and surplus is sold in local markets, meaning that the zinc maize not only provides increased income to farmers, but also improves nutrition in their families, communities and country at large.
âCIMMYT, along with partners like HarvestPlus, have provided the technologies and support to allow us to come up with new ways to improve farmersâ lives. Tapping into decades of research from qualified scientists is the only way that an organization of our size can have hope of making an impact in the lives of millions of farmers. Thatâs what makes the partnership so incredible,â said Curt Bowen, executive director and cofounder of Semilla Nueva. âWe provide the innovative way to get technologies to farmers through our social enterprise model. CIMMYT and HarvestPlus come up with the technologies that we never could have come up with on our own. Together, we help thousands of families make huge changes in their lives and take on malnutrition, which is one of the worldâs biggest challenges to ending global poverty.â
Semilla Nueva plans to produce 5,000 bags of Fortaleza F3 next year, which will represent 5 percent of the Guatemalan hybrid seed market.
Farmer RĂłmulo GonzĂĄlez on his maize plot.Photo: Sarah Caroline Mueller.
âFarmers have responded very positively to Fortaleza F3. They are convinced of its performance, especially during the dry season,â said Angela Bastidas, senior operations director at Semilla Nueva. âThe way we approach farmers is not different than other seed companies; through farm visits, meetings, or field days. We are not reinventing the wheel. The difference with us has been offering farmers exactly what they need in terms of maize performance and price. Additionally, they find that our maize produces soft tortillas that taste better!â she explained.
In the end, the results speak for themselves. Fortaleza F3 increases yields by 13 percent and profits by $164 per bag compared to other mid-priced seeds, which goes a long way in improving farming familiesâ livelihoods, food security and nutrition.
âWith Fortaleza F3, I pay less for the seed compared to other mid-priced competitors that I used to plant. F3 also yields more, giving me a greater profit,â said RĂłmulo GonzĂĄlez, a farmer from the southern coast of Guatemala. âWith the extra income Iâve gotten since switching to F3, Iâve been paying for my daughter to go to school. Fortaleza F3 not only gave me a good harvest, but also the ability to support my daughterâs education.â
The study by Baudron and Stephen A. Wood of The Nature Conservancy found that wheat grown on soils rich in organic matter, especially near the forest, had more essential nutrients like zinc and protein. Ethiopia faces varying levels of hidden hunger: a deficiency in vitamins and minerals in food, despite rising yields.
In Ethiopia and many low and middle-income countries, Nitrogen-based fertilizers are out of reach for farmers. But low-cost techniques like agroforestry, minimum tillage, and planting nitrogen-fixing legumes can help African farmers enhance soils, and have been successfully implemented in different African farming systems. The study found that wheat farms near forests had richer soils due to decomposing trees and plants, and more livestock manure, pointing to the benefits of an integrated approach.
The researchers conclude that healthy soils are an important tool for âfeeding the world wellâ and achieving Zero Hunger, one of the Sustainable Development Goals. âThe finding offers a new solution in addressing growing malnutrition,â writes Baudron.
Original study: Wood SA and Baudron F. 2018. Soil organic matter underlies crop nutritional quality and productivity in smallholder agriculture. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 266 (100-108). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2018.07.025
Natalia Palacios, CIMMYT maize quality specialist, spearheads the center’s work to raise the nutritional value of maize-based foods.
Exposure to more frequent and intense climate extremes is threatening to reverse progress towards ending hunger and malnutrition. New evidence points to rising world hunger. A recent FAO report estimated the number of undernourished people worldwide at over 800 million. Severe food insecurity and undernourishment are increasing in almost all sub-regions of Africa, as well as across South America.
âItâs very important to ensure food security,â says CIMMYT maize quality specialist Natalia Palacios. âBut we also have to focus on food nutrition, because increasing yields doesnât always mean that weâre improving food quality.â Food quality, she explained, is affected not only by genetics, but also by crop and postharvest management practices. As head of CIMMYTâs maize nutritional quality laboratory, Palaciosâ work combines research on all three.
What role can CIMMYT play in addressing global nutrition challenges?
Nutrition is an interdisciplinary issue, so there are several ways for CIMMYT to engage. In breeding, thereâs a lot we can do in biofortificationâwhich means to increase grain nutrient content. The CIMMYT germplasm bank, with its more than 175,000 unique collections of maize and wheat seed, is an invaluable source of genetic traits to develop new nutritious and competitive crops.
CIMMYT also addresses household nutrition challenges, including food availability, proper storage, and consumer behavior and choice. In cropping systems, the Center studies and promotes diversification, agroforestry, and improved soil health and farming practices, and at the landscape level it examines the role of agricultural practices. Gender research and foresight allow us to identify our role in the evolving setting of agri-food systems and rural transformation. We are prioritizing areas where CIMMYT can play a key role to address global nutrition challenges and partner effectively with leading nutrition groups worldwide.
How does the biofortification of staple crops like maize and wheat help to improve nutrition?
CIMMYT biofortification research has focused on micronutrients such as provitamin A in maize and zinc in both maize and wheat, to benefit consumers whose diets depend on those crops and may lack diversity. Biofortification must be complemented by enhanced dietary diversification and education for better nutrition.
How important are processing and post-harvest storage in terms of ensuring high-nutritional quality?
Research on post-harvest processing and storage is key to our work. A critical topic in maize is monitoring, understanding, and controlling aflatoxinsâpoisonous toxins produced by molds on the grain. CIMMYT has worked mainly to develop aflatoxin-tolerant maize, but recent funding from the Mexican food industry has enabled us to launch a small, more broadly-focused study.
In the past, aflatoxins showed up every three or four years in Mexico, and even then at fairly low levels. Aflatoxin incidence has lately become more frequent, appearing almost every year or two, as climate changes expose crops to higher temperatures and fungi are more likely to develop in the field or storage, especially when storage conditions are poor.
What are the implications of high aflatoxin incidence for health and nutrition?
The implications for health and nutrition are huge. High consumption can affect the immune system and lead to pancreatic and liver cancers, among other grave illnesses.
How easy is it to tell if a kernel is contaminated?
Itâs impossible to tell whether grain is contaminated without doing tests. The chemical structure of the toxin includes a lactone ring that fluoresces under UV-light, but this method only tells you whether or not the toxin is present, and results depend contamination levels and kernel placement under the lamp.
Weâre spreading the lamp method among farmers so they can detect contamination in their crops, as well as making other of our other methods more accessible and less expensive, for use by farmers and food processors.
This week the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) launched a new podcast: Cobs & Spikes. This is a space where we’re going to break down complex science into bite-sized, audio-rich explainers. We’re going to have real conversations with experts from around the world who are innovating in the fields of agriculture, food security and nutrition. We’re also going to listen to stories that link CIMMYT’s research with real-world applications.
In this episode, we are celebrating World Food Day, October 16. Also this week, food experts and leaders from around the world are gathering in Iowa for the 2018 Borlaug Dialogue and the World Food Prize Laureate Award Ceremony.
Today we’re talking to the recipient of the World Food Prize 2018 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application.
Matthew Rouse is a researcher with the Agricultural Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture. Rouse works on developing wheat varieties that are resistant to diseases, and he’s being recognized for his work on Ug99 â a devastating race of stem rust disease. Throughout his career, Rouse has collaborated with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).
NAIROBI (Kenya) â Members of the International Maize Improvement Consortium (IMIC) and other partners had a chance to go on a field visit to the Kiboko and Naivasha research stations in Kenya on September 18 and 19, 2018. The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the Kenya Agriculture & Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) held their annual partner field days to share the latest developments in maize and wheat research.
On the first day, CIMMYT invited IMIC researchers to evaluate Material Under Development at the Kiboko site. These maize lines are not publicly released yet but are available to IMIC partners, so they can select the most promising ones for their research and crop improvement work.
Each seed company was looking for certain traits to develop new hybrid varieties. For instance, Samit Fayek, from Fine Seeds Egypt was looking for âerect typeâ maize, as he wants higher crop density and grains that look big. Christopher Volbrecht, from Lake Agriculture in South Africa, was looking for âcobs that stick out as this is what farmers want.â Josephine Okot, from Victoria Seeds in Uganda, said that âseed companies often look at drought tolerance only, but we need now to integrate resistance to Maize Lethal Necrosis.â
Using Doubled Haploid breeding in Kiboko
Some of the workers at Kiboko station sorting out maize seed varieties. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)
Next on the tour to Kiboko, partners visited various stress-tolerant breeding materials, sustainable intensification cropping demonstrations and the Doubled Haploid facility. Vijaya Chaikam, Maize Doubled Haploid Scientist, explained how CIMMYT uses this methodology to cut down breeding time from six to two cycles, which drastically reduces costs.
According to B.M. Prasanna, director of CIMMYTâs Global Maize Program and the CGIAR Research Program MAIZE, doubled haploid breeding is possibly the biggest innovation to speed up genetic gain since the inception of hybrid technology a century ago. âIn the next 4 or 5 years, CIMMYT aims at 80 percent use of double haploid lines for new hybrid development; breeding will be faster and much cheaper that way,â Prasanna said. âFor now, breeders and seed companies need to know how to use double haploid lines to cost-efficiently crossbreed with their varieties for high-quality hybrids.â
At the end of the visit to Kiboko, CIMMYT officially opened a new maize seed storage cold room. This facility will serve to keep seeds in good condition and to better manage inventory. At the opening were the director of KALROâs Food Crops Research Institute, Joyce Malinga, CIMMYTâs Africa Regional Representative, Stephen Mugo, and CIMMYTâs Technical Lead for the Global Maize Program, Aparna Das.
Fighting Maize Lethal Necrosis and rust in Naivasha
A worker at the Naivasha MLN research station conducts a mock inoculation (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)
On the second day, partners visited the Naivasha research station. There, CIMMYT presented the latest efforts to contain Maize Lethal Necrosis (MLN), a devastating maize viral disease first reported in Kenya in 2011 which caused severe crop losses across Eastern Africa, causing severe crop losses. The Naivasha research station is home to a world-class facility to screen for Maize Lethal Necrosis, jointly managed by CIMMYT and KALRO.
At the facility, maize lines are evaluated for MLN resistance. The best lines and varieties are nominated for further development and shared with partners. National Agriculture Research partners can request MLN screening at no cost, while private seed companies are charged for the service. In the last four years, more than 150,000 germplasm have been screened.
CIMMYT wheat scientist Mandeep Randhawa explained how to recognize the different types of wheat rust diseases: stem, stripe and leaf rusts. He emphasized the Ug99 black stem rust strain, which appeared in Uganda in 1998 and has since severely impacted wheat production in the region and globally. Randhawa explained how CIMMYT develops varieties resistant to stem rust using a phenotyping platform and marker-assisted selection.
These two field days were a great opportunity to showcase progress in developing more resilient maize varieties in a fast and cost-effective way. This responsiveness is crucial as pests and diseases continue to threaten the livelihoods of African smallholders. Such impact could not happen without the strong collaboration between CIMMYT and KALRO.
The director of KALRO’s Food Crops Research Institute, Joyce Malinga (left), the director of CIMMYT Global Maize Program, B.M. Prasanna (center), and CIMMYT’s Regional Representative, Stephen Mugo, open the maize seed cold room in Kiboko (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)
The Doubled Haploid Facility in Kiboko and the Maize Lethal Necrosis screening facilty in Naivasha were opened in 2013 with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Syngenta Foundation.
The International Maize Improvement Consortium (IMIC) is a public-private partnership initiative launched in May 2018 as part of CIMMYTâs mission to ramp up seed breeding and production innovations.
NAIROBI (Kenya) â As the invasion of the voracious fall armyworm threatens to cause US$3-6 billion in annual damage to maize and other African food staples, 35 organizations announced today the formation of a global coalition of research for development (R4D) partners, focused on developing technical solutions and a shared vision of how farmers should fight against this pest. After causing extensive crop damage in Africa, the presence of the fall armyworm was recently confirmed in India.
The new Fall Armyworm R4D International Consortium will serve to develop and implement a unified plan to fight this plant pest on the ground. Focusing on applied research, the consortium joins other global efforts and coordinates with international bodies working against this pest. The Fall Armyworm R4D International Consortium will be co-led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).
âThis pest caught us all by surprise and it continues eating away at maize and other crops that are important for the food security and livelihoods of African farmers. We can no longer afford to work in isolation,â said the Director General of CIMMYT, Martin Kropff. âMany organizations in the public and private sector are working intensively on different approaches,â he added, âbut farmers are not interested in half solutions. They want to have integrated solutions, supported by strong science, which work effectively and sustainably.â
Consortium members will coordinate efforts to pursue a wide range of options for fighting fall armyworm, with a strong emphasis on integrated pest management, which includes host plant resistance, environmentally safer chemical pesticides, biological and cultural control methods, and agronomic management.
The Deputy Director General for Partnerships for Delivery at IITA, Kenton Dashiell, said that efforts are underway to identify and validate biopesticides, or âvery safe products that donât harm the environment or people but kill the pest.â In some areas, Dashiell explained, farmers may need to consider temporarily switching to a food crop that is not susceptible to armyworm.
A fall armyworm on a damaged leaf in Nigeria, 2017. (Photo: G. Goergen/IITA)
The Vice President of Program Development and Innovation at the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Joe DeVries, said his organization is serving as a bridge between scientists and farmers. AGRA is developing a network of âvillage-based advisersâ across 15 countries who will be connected to farmers via a âprivate sector-ledâ extension system to help farmers deal with fall armyworm infestations. AGRA and its partners already have trained more than 1,000 advisers and expect to add several thousand more who can âquickly bring to farmers the latest knowledge about the best methods of control.â
The Chief Scientist at the Bureau of Food Security of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Rob Bertram, expressed his excitement about the formation of the consortium, both for its immediate relevance for fighting fall armyworm and as a forerunner of âmore resilientâ agriculture systems in Africa, which is likely to see similar threats in the future. CIMMYT and USAID, together with global experts, developed an integrated pest management guide to fight fall armyworm, available in English, French and Portuguese.
The Director General of Development at the Center for Agriculture and Biosciences (CABI), Dennis Rangi, noted that the ability for people to more rapidly travel around the world is also making it easier for plant pests to hop from continent to continent. âToday we are focusing on the fall armyworm, tomorrow it could be something different,â he said.
The members of the Fall Armyworm R4D International Consortium will hold their first face-to-face meeting on October 29-31, 2018, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This international conference will be organized by CIMMYT, IITA, AGRA, CABI, FAO, icipe, FAO, USAID and the African Union Commission.
The technical coordinators of the consortium are B.M. Prasanna, Director of the CGIAR Research Program MAIZE and Global Maize Program at CIMMYT, and May-Guri Saethre, Deputy Director General of Research for Development at IITA.
PARTNERS OF THE FALL ARMYWORM R4D INTERNATIONAL CONSORTIUM
Leads:
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)
Members:
African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF)
Agricultural Research Service (ARS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)
Bayer
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Biorisk Management Facility (BIMAF)
Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa)
Center for Agriculture and Biosciences (CABI)
Corteva
CropLife International
Deutsche Gesellschaft fĂŒr Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA)
International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe)
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)
Lancaster University
Leibniz Institute DSMZ (German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures)
Michigan State University (MSU)
Mississippi State University (MSU)
North-West University (NWU)
Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO)
Oregon State University (OSU)
Rothamsted Research
Syngenta
UK Department for International Development (DFID)
United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
University of Bonn
University of Florida (UFL)
University of Greenwich
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech)
Wageningen University and Research (WUR)
West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research (CORAF/WECARD)
World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF)
MEDIA CONTACTS
For more information, please contact:
GeneviĂšve Renard, Head of Communication, CIMMYT g.renard@cgiar.org, +52 (55) 5804 2004, ext. 2019.
Katherine Lopez, Head of Communication, IITA k.lopez@cgiar.org, +234 0700800, ext. 2770
