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.

New zinc-biofortified maize variety BIO-MZn01. (Photo: CIMMYT)

First zinc maize variety launched to reduce malnutrition in Colombia

Written by Jennifer Johnson on February 28, 2018. Posted in News.

Left to right: Miguel Lengua, director general of Maxi Semillas S.A.S; Bram Govaerts, Latin America regional director at CIMMYT; Martin Kropff, CIMMYT director general; Howdy Bouis, interim HarvestPlus CEO; and Felix San Vicente, CIMMYT maize breeder; at the launch of new biofortified zinc maize. (Photo: Jennifer Johnson/CIMMYT)

Cali, Colombia (CIMMYT) — A new zinc-enriched maize variety was released in Colombia on February 23 to help combat malnutrition in South America.

Zinc is an essential mineral that plays an important role in human development but is not naturally produced by humans. Zinc deficiency can lead to impaired growth and development, respiratory infections, diarrheal disease and a general weakening of the immune system. In Colombia, an average of 22 percent of the population is affected by zinc deficiency. However, in certain regions, such as the pacific coast and Amazonia, up to 65 percent of the population is deficient in zinc.

The new variety, known as BIO-MZN01, was developed by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) with the support of HarvestPlus in collaboration with the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE) and the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH).

CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff speaks at the launch of zinc-enriched maize. (Photo: Jennifer Johnson/CIMMYT)

“The support that CIMMYT and CIAT have received from HarvestPlus has been fundamental in allowing our researchers to develop crops with enhanced vitamin and mineral content,” said Martin Kropff, CIMMYT director general. “The improved maize that we present today is an important example of the impact we can have when we work together in partnership.”

The minimum daily requirement for zinc is 15mg, but not everyone has access to foods with naturally occurring quantities of zinc, which makes this zinc-enriched maize variety a boost for nutrition in a region where maize is a staple food.

BIO-MZN01 contains 36 percent more zinc on average than other maize varieties, meaning that arepas (a common maize-based Colombian dish) made of this new variety offer consumers up to five times more zinc than those made with traditional varieties. Additionally, BIO-MZN01 can yield up to 6 to 8 tons per hectare(t/ha), nearly double the national average in Colombia of 3.7 t/ha and is tolerant to several maize diseases that are common in the region, including rust, turcicum leaf blight, and gray leaf spot. Another advantage is it can be grown between 0 and 1400 meters above sea level during both cropping seasons in the country.

The official launch of BIO-MZN01 was held at CIAT in Palmira, Colombia, and was attended by local farmers, seed companies, and government officials as well as CIMMYT, HarvestPlus and CIAT staff. As part of the launch, visitors and staff were invited into the field to see the variety firsthand and learn more about its properties and the history of its development.

“The conservation and utilization of genetic diversity have been crucial for the development of this new biofortified variety, as well as other CIMMYT varieties with improved nutrition or resistance to climate change,” said Natalia Palacios, maize nutritional quality specialist at CIMMYT. “This has been an inter-institutional and interdisciplinary effort at all levels of the maize value chain.”

Other products of the CIMMYT/HarvestPlus partnership include zinc-enriched wheat and biofortified provitamin A maize, which helps to prevent blindness in children.

“We have been working with CIMMYT since HarvestPlus began,” said Marilia Nutti, the regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean at HarvestPlus. “The greatest advantage of working with CIMMYT is their quality research—CIMMYT has all of the knowledge of maize and wheat, and maize is a big part of the diet in Latin America. Meanwhile, HarvestPlus and CIAT already had the partnerships on the ground in Colombia to ensure that this improved zinc maize could get to farmers and consumers. This has truly been a win-win partnership to improve nutrition.”

A farmer examines a zinc-enriched maize plant. (Photo: CIMMYT)

The scientific work conducted at CIMMYT, HarvestPlus and CIAT reaches the hands of farmers through local seed companies such as Maxi Semillas S.A.S., a partner of CIMMYT Colombia for the past 40 years that will be commercializing the new variety. “These varieties are the product of an incredibly long and costly investigation that we do not have the resources to conduct ourselves. In turn we work to ensure that the variety can reach the hands of the farmers and consumers that need it most,” said Miguel Lengua, director general of Maxi Semillas S.A.S.

The variety will be sold at a similar price to currently available maize varieties in Colombia, and certified seed will be available beginning in August.

BIO-MZN01 will also form part of a new initiative in Colombia called “Semillas para la Paz,” or Seeds for Peace, which seeks to provide improved seed varieties as an alternative to illicit crops. The program, organized by the Colombian government and the Colombian Agricultural Research Corporation (CORPOICA), will promote the cultivation of nine different crops, including maize and beans. Over 20 tons of this new zinc-enriched maize variety will be produced by Maxi Semillas for this program, along with an iron-enriched biofortified bean variety developed by CIAT with HarvestPlus.

Seed savers celebrate “Doomsday Vault” tenth anniversary

Written by on February 22, 2018. Posted in News.

CIMMYT’s Maize Germplasm Bank has its entire collection backed up in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Photo: CIMMYT archives

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) — The “Doomsday Vault,” that safeguards fall-back collections of key food crop seeds in the arctic cold of Longyearbyen, Norway, marks its tenth anniversary this year. To celebrate, leaders in the conservation of crop genetic resources are gathering next week to discuss best practices and to encourage sustainable use of the resources.

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault sits 1,300 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle; the farthest north commercial flights will take you. It is described as the world’s largest secure seed storage and was established by the Norwegian Government in February 2008. Repurposing an abandoned coal mine, the global seed vault is set deep into the natural permafrost of the Norwegian island of Svalbard.

Over the last decade, seed-preserving institutions worldwide have shipped backup collections of seed and other plant parts for storage in the vault, which now holds nearly 900,000 varieties of essential crops, representing over 4,000 plant species, which could be drawn upon to restart agriculture in case of a catastrophe.

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is the top contributor to the vault, with over 150,000 unique collections containing a total of nearly 50 million seeds and representing roughly 85 percent of the entire CIMMYT germplasm bank collection.

The target is to have 90 percent of the CIMMYT entire collection backed up at Svalbard within two years, according to Thomas Payne, head of CIMMYT’s Wheat Germplasm Bank, which is located in Mexico. CIMMYT’s Maize Germplasm Bank, led by Denise Costich, has already reached that goal.

“We send seeds every other year, accumulating packets until we have a critical mass and sending them in a large, single shipment,” Payne said.

Preparing and shipping the seed involves intricate coordination and painstaking work. For starters, seed must be sent in the winter to avoid it sitting on hot airport tarmacs. Additionally, the Svalbard vault opens for new deposits only a few times a year, so shipping logistics need to match up those dates.

The CIMMYT Wheat Germplasm Bank aims to have 90 percent of its collection backed up at Svalbard within two years. Photo: CIMMYT archives. — CIMMYT’s Wheat Germplasm Bank aims to have 90 percent of its collection backed up at Svalbard within two years. Photo: CIMMYT archives.

Only seed of the highest quality is sent to Svalbard, in part to ensure that the stored seed retains as long as possible its ability to germinate.

CIMMYT Germplasm Bank seed collections are regularly tested for germination capacity by placing a batch of seeds in a wet paper towel for 7-10 days. When less than 85 percent of a unique collection is viable, then the entire collection is replaced with fresh seed grown from the viable portion.

“There are seed collections at CIMMYT that still meet the minimum viability standard after more than 50 years under storage,” Payne said, noting that the center’s long-term collections are kept at minus 18 degrees Centigrade and in low humidity.

Payne said the center keeps duplicate collections in Mexico of all the seed it sends to Svalbard and monitors those Mexico back-ups to keep tabs on the viability of its Svalbard deposits.

Payne explained “To check seed viability, we have to take seeds out of storage, representing a loss of several hundred seeds. It’s almost a self-defeating process, balancing viability testing with sufficient quantities of seed to test and distribute.”

Payne said scientists are seeking new, non-invasive ways to test seed viability, potentially by checking seed respiration rates or rapid germination imaging technologies.

The government of Norway and the Global Crop Diversity Trust cover the cost of storage and upkeep of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, coordinating shipments in conjunction with the Nordic Genetic Resource Center. Established in 2006, the Crop Trust supports the conservation and availability of crop diversity for food security worldwide and helps to fund CIMMYT’s work to collect and conserve maize and wheat genetic resources. The CGIAR Genebank Platform also supports CIMMYT’s maize and wheat germplasm bank.

CIMMYT's Germplasm Bank staff preparing a seed shipment to send to Svalbard. Photo: Alfonso Cortés/ CIMMYT — CIMMYT’s Germplasm Bank staff prepare a seed shipment set for Svalbard. Photo: Alfonso Cortés/ CIMMYT

Learn more about the activities of the Maize Germplasm Bank here, and about the Wheat Germplasm Bank here.

The Maize and Wheat Germplasm banks at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center are funded by Global Crop Diversity Trust, the CGIAR Genebank Platform and Germany’s development agency.

Scientists confirm value of whole grains and wheat for nutrition and health

Written by on February 15, 2018. Posted in Press releases.

New study flattens claims that gluten and wheat are bad for human health. Photo: CIMMYT archives

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – A new, exhaustive review of recent scientific studies on cereal grains and health has shown that gluten- or wheat-free diets are not inherently healthier for the general populace and may actually put individuals at risk of dietary deficiencies.

Based on a recent, special compilation of 12 reports published in the scientific journal Cereal Foods World during 2014-2017, eating whole grains is actually beneficial for brain health and associated with reduced risk of diverse types of cancer, coronary disease, diabetes, hypertension, obesity and overall mortality.

“Clear and solid data show that eating whole-grain wheat products as part of a balanced diet improves health and can help maintain a healthy body weight, apart from the 1 percent of people who suffer from celiac disease and another 2 to 3 percent who are sensitive to wheat,” said Carlos Guzmán, wheat nutrition and quality specialist at the Mexico-based International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), which produced the compilation.

Guzmán said wheat and other grains are inexpensive sources of energy that also provide protein, digestible fiber, minerals, vitamins, and other beneficial phytochemicals.

“Among wheat’s greatest benefits, according to the research, is fiber from the bran and other grain parts,” he explained. “Diets in industrialized countries are generally deficient in such fiber, which helps to regulate digestion and promote the growth of beneficial gut bacteria.”

Guzmán and hundreds of other grain quality and health specialists will meet for the 4th Latin American Cereals Conference and the 13th International Gluten Workshop, organized jointly by CIMMYT and the International Association for Cereal Science and Technology (ICC) in Mexico City from 11 to 17 March 2018.

Contributing to humankind’s development for the last 10,000 years, wheat is cultivated on some 220 million hectares (539 million acres) worldwide. The crop accounts for a fifth of the world’s food and is the main source of protein in many developing and developed countries, and second only to rice as a source of calories globally. In the many countries where milling flours are fortified, wheat-based foods provide necessary levels of essential micronutrients such as iron, zinc, folic acid and vitamin A.

Inhabitants in developing and industrialized countries are experiencing higher incidences of diabetes, allergies, inflammatory bowel disorder, and obesity. A profitable industry has developed around gluten- and wheat-free food products, which the popular press has promoted as beneficial for addressing such disorders. But much scientific evidence contradicts popular writings about these food products.

“Much of the anti-grain messaging comes from publications produced by supposed ‘specialists’ who are not nutritionists, and are often built on faulty premises.” according to Julie Miller Jones, Distinguished Scholar and Professor Emerita at St. Catherine University, U.S.A., and a key contributor to the review studies in the compilation.

“Causes of obesity and chronic disease are complex, and it is not only simplistic but erroneous to name a single food group as the cause or the cure for these problems,” Miller Jones explained. “We do know that we consume large portions, too many calories, and too few fruits, vegetables, or whole grains. Instead today’s lifestyles encourage consumption of many high calorie foods and beverages that contain few nutrients. Then the risks of poor diets are often amplified by our sedentary lifestyles.”

CIMMYT scientists are concerned that the negative portrayal of wheat to promote the lucrative gluten-free fad diet industry will discourage low-income families from consuming the grain as part of an affordable and healthy diet, particularly in areas where there are few low-cost alternatives.

Consumer Reports magazine reported in January 2015 that sales of “gluten-free” products soared 63 percent between 2012 and 2015, with almost 4,600 products introduced in 2014 alone. Retail sales of gluten-free foods in the United States were estimated at $12.2 billion in 2014 and by 2020 the market is projected to be valued at $23.9 billion, Statistica reports.

However, wheat biofortified through breeding or fortified during milling with zinc and iron can play a vital role in diets in areas where “hidden hunger” is a concern and where nutritional options are unaffordable or unavailable. About 2 billion people worldwide suffer from hidden hunger, which is characterized by iron-deficiency anemia, vitamin A and zinc deficiency.

The compilation draws on more than 1,500 peer-reviewed studies regarding the dietary and health effects of eating cereals and wheat-based foods.

CIMMYT specialists also worry that misinformation about wheat might affect investments in vital research to sustain wheat production increases of at least 60 percent by 2050, the output required to keep pace with rising population and demand, according to Hans Braun, director of the center’s global wheat program.

“Climate change is already constraining wheat production in regions such as South Asia, where more than 500 million inhabitants eat wheat-based foods,” Braun said. “Worldwide, the crop is threatened by deadly pest and disease strains, water shortages, and depleted soils.”

“As we have seen in 2008, 2011, and just recently in Tunisia and Sudan, grain shortages or price hikes in bread can lead to social unrest,” Braun added. “The international community needs to speed efforts to develop and share high-yielding, climate-resilient, and disease-resistant wheat varieties that also meet humanity’s varied nutritional demands.”

The compilation was produced with special permission from AACC International.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION OR INTERVIEWS

Mike Listman
Communications officer, CGIAR Research Program on Wheat
tel: +52 (55) 5804 7537
cel: +52 (1595) 114 9743
Email: m.listman@cgiar.org

New Publications: Storage of maize products results in vitamin loss

Written by on February 15, 2018. Posted in Publications.

New Pubs

Biofortification of crops through traditional breeding techniques has become very common in the fight against malnutrition globally. Biofortified provitamin A maize is bred to produce increased carotenoids (a naturally occurring molecule also found in carrots) to reduce vitamin A deficiency (VAD). VAD affects 190 million children globally and causes an estimated 500,000 cases of preventable blindness per year. A study in 2014 showed that provitamin A maize, was as effective as a high-dose supplement at increasing vitamin A stores in Zambian children.

However, processing and storage can drastically reduce the level of carotenoids in these foods by the time they are consumed. The authors of a new study explain that processing of maize grains makes vitamins more bioavailable, but that exposure to heat, light and air can oxidize carotenoids, reducing the amount remaining in food.

The study shows that when stored for six months in traditional conditions, up to 65 percent of provitamin A may be lost, but it differs among maize varieties, with some varieties losing 40 percent of their carotenoid content in the first two weeks.

The study also examined processing and cooking methods of biofortified maize and eggs from hens who ate this maize to find the best and worst conditions for carotenoid retention. They found that boiling whole grain maize into porridge had the best retention rates of any tested processing methods, with retention rates over 100 percent, and deep frying maize and scrambling eggs had the lowest retention rates of around 70 and 80 percent, respectively.

Overall, the authors say cooking allowed both maize and eggs to retain upwards of 80 percent of effects carotenoid content, but storage at or above room temperature quickly degraded the carotenoid content. They suggest that whole grain and courser ground maize may be a good way to retain more provitamin A while sitting on a shelf, but say more research is necessary.

Read the full study “Retention of Carotenoids in Biofortified Maize Flour and β-Cryptoxanthin-Enhanced Eggs after Household Cooking” and check out other publications by CIMMYT staff below:

A white paper on global wheat health based on scenario development and analysis. Savary, S., Djurle, A., Yuen, J., Ficke, A., Rossi, V., Esker, P.D., Fernandes, J.M.C., Del Ponte, E.M., Kumar, J., Madden, L.V., Paul, P., McRoberts, N., Singh, P.K., Huber, L., Pope de Vallavielle, C., Saint-Jea, S., Willocquet, L. In: Phytopathology v. 107, no. 10, p. 1109-1122.
Characterization of leaf rust and stripe rust resistance in spring wheat ‘Chilero’. Ponce-Molina, L.J., Huerta-Espino, J., Singh, R.P., Basnet, B.R., Alvarado Beltrán, G., Randhawa, M.S., Caixia Lan, Aguilar Rincón, V.H., Lobato-Ortiz, R., García Zavala, J.J. In: Plant disease v. 102, no. 2, p. 421-427.
Evaluation of grain yield of heat stress resilient maize hybrids in Nepal. Koirala, K.B., Giri, Y.P., Rijal, T.R., Zaidi, P.H., Ajanahalli, R.S., Shrestha, J. In: International Journal of Applied Sciences and Biotechnology v. 5, no. 4, p. 511-522.
Genetic analysis of heat adaptive traits in tropical maize (Zea mays L.). Krishnaji Jodage., Kuchanur, P.H., Zaidi, P.H., Patil, A., Seetharam, K., Vinayan, M.T., Arunkumar, B. In: International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences v. 7, no. 1, p. 3237-3246.
Genetic analysis of morpho-physiological traits and yield components in F2 partial diallel crosses of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Abidine Fellah, Z.E., Hannach, A., Bouzerzour, H., Dreisigacker, S., Yahyaoui, A.H., Sehgal, D. In: Revista Facultad Nacional de Agronomía v. 70, no. 3, p. 8237-8250.
Genomics selection in plant breeding : methods, models, and perspectives. Crossa, J., Pérez-Rodríguez, P., Cuevas, J., Montesinos-Lopez, O.A., Jarquín, D., De los Campos, G., Burgueño, J., Camacho-González, J. M., Perez-Elizalde, S., Beyene, Y., Dreisigacker, S., Ravi Gopal Singh, Zhang, X., Gowda, M., Roorkiwal, M., Rutkoski, J., Varshney, R. K. In: Trends in Plant Science v. 20, no. 11, p. 961-975.
Grain yield and stability of white early maize hybrids in the highland valleys of Mexico. Torres Flores, J. L., Mendoza García, B., Prasanna, B.M., Alvarado Beltrán, G., San Vicente, F.M., Crossa, J. In: Crop Science v. 57, no. 6, p. 3002-3015.
High-throughput measurement methodologies for developing nutrient-dense crops. Guild, G., Parkes, E., Nutti, M., Palacios-Rojas, N., Stangoulis, J. In: African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development v. 17, no. 2, p. 11941-11954.
Retention of carotenoids in biofortified maize flour and β-Cryptoxanthin-Enhanced eggs after household cooking. Sowa, M., Jiaoying Yu, Palacios-Rojas, N., Goltz, S. R., Howe, J. A., Davis, C.R., Rocheford, T., Tanumihardjo, S. A. In: ACS Omega no. 2, p. 7320-7328.
Risk assessment and spread of the potentially invasive Ceratitis rosa Karsch and Ceratitis quilicii De Meyer, Mwatawala and Virgilio sp. Nov. using life-cycle simulation models : implications for phytosanitary measures and management. Tanga, C. M., Khamis, F. M., Tonnang, H., Rwomushana, I., Mosomtai, G., Mohamed, S. A., Ekesi, S. In: PLoS One v. 13, no. 1:e0189138

Deadly strain of wheat stem rust disease surfaces in Europe

Written by Matthew O'Leary on February 8, 2018. Posted in News.

Wheat stem rust was reported by the Greeks and Romans, and the latter sacrificed to the gods to avoid disease outbreaks on their wheat crops. Photo: CIMMYT/Petr Kosina — Wheat stem rust was reported by the Greeks and Romans, and the latter sacrificed to the gods to avoid disease outbreaks on their wheat crops.
Photo: CIMMYT/Petr Kosina

As reported today in Communications Biology, an international team of researchers led by the John Innes Centre, U.K., found that 80 percent of U.K. wheat varieties are susceptible to the deadly stem rust strain. The group also confirmed for the first time in many decades that the stem rust fungus was growing on barberry bush, the pathogen’s alternate host, in the UK.

“This signals the rising threat of stem rust disease for wheat and barley production in Europe,” said Dave Hodson, senior scientist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and co-author on the study.

A scourge of wheat since biblical times, stem rust caused major losses to North American wheat crops in the early 20th century. Stem rust disease was controlled for decades through the use of resistant wheat varieties bred in the 1950s by scientist Norman Borlaug and his colleagues. Widespread adoption of those varieties sparked the Green Revolution of the 1960s and 70s.

In 1999 a new, highly-virulent strain of the stem rust fungus emerged in eastern Africa. Spores of that strain and variants have spread rapidly and are threatening or overcoming the genetic resistance of many currently sown wheat varieties. Scientists worldwide joined forces in the early 2000s to develop new, resistant varieties and to monitor and control outbreaks of stem rust and yellow rust, as part of collaborations such as the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative led by Cornell University.

Barberry is a shrub found throughout the temperate and subtropical regions. Photo: CIMMYT archives — Barberry is a shrub found throughout the temperate and subtropical regions. Photo: John Innes Centre

The Communications Biology study shows that 2013 U.K. stem rust strain is related to TKTTF, a fungal race first detected in Turkey that spread across the Middle East and recently into Europe. It was the dominant race in the 2013 stem rust outbreak in Germany and infected 10,000 hectares of wheat in Ethiopia’s breadbasket the same year.

Because disease organisms mutate quickly to overcome crop resistance controlled by single genes, researchers are rushing to identify new resistance genes and to incorporate multiple genes into high-yielding varieties, according to Ravi Singh, CIMMYT wheat scientist who participated in the reported study.

“The greatest hope for achieving durable resistance to rust diseases is to make wheat’s resistance genetically complex, combining several genes and resistance mechanisms,” Singh explained.

Barberry, which serves as a spawning ground for the stem rust fungus, was largely eradicated from the U.K. and U.S. last century, greatly reducing the spread and genetic diversification of rust disease races. Now barberry is being grown again in the U.K. over the last decade, according to Diane G.O. Saunders, John Innes Centre scientist and co-author of the study.

“The late Nobel laureate Norman Borlaug said that the greatest ally of the pathogen is our short memory,” Saunders stated. “We recommend continued, intensive resistance breeding. We would also welcome work with conservationists of endangered, barberry-dependent insect species to ensure that planting of common barberry occurs away from arable land, thus safeguarding European cereals from a large-scale re-emergence of wheat stem rust.”

Click here to read the John Innes Centre media release about the Communications Biology report and view the report.

“Bazooka” maize makes a bang in Uganda

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on February 1, 2018. Posted in News.

Unprecedented droughts have hit Uganda’s farmers hard in recent years, affecting household income and food security by drastically cutting maize yields, a staple crop in the country. In 2016, at least 1.3 million people in Uganda faced hunger and urgently needed food aid after a dry spell decimated harvests, leaving some with less than one meal per day. When MLN, a maize disease with the ability to cause extreme or complete crop loss in maize, arrived in Uganda in 2013, farmers needed a variety that could cope.

Enter, “bazooka,” a new maize variety that is giving hope to Ugandan farmers facing climate change-related drought and MLN.

Developed by Uganda’s National Crops Research Resources Institute (NaCRRI) and National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) using traditional breeding methods and materials from the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE) and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), bazooka maize has natural resistance to drought and MLN. Produced and distributed by the Naseco seed company, bazooka is gaining immense popularity in Uganda.

300 million people depend on maize as their main food source in sub-Saharan Africa, where many smallholder farmers do not have access to irrigation systems, and extended drought can be a death sentence for their crops. Now, with new drought tolerant varieties such as bazooka, they can expect better harvests.

To read the full story, please click here to view the original article from Seed World and CS Monitor.

A fall armyworm on a damaged leaf in Nigeria, 2017. (Photo: G. Goergen/IITA)

New technical guide to help farmers protect against fall armyworm

Written by on January 30, 2018. Posted in News.

Nairobi, Kenya (CIMMYT) – A new comprehensive integrated pest management (IPM)-based technical guide produced by international experts will help scientists, extension agents and farmers to tackle the fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda), which has rapidly spread across the African continent in the last two years, decimating maize crops in its path.

“Fall Armyworm in Africa: A Guide for Integrated Pest Management,” jointly produced by Feed the Future, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE), provides tips on fall armyworm identification as well as technologies and practices for effective control.

Native to North America, the fall armyworm has recently emerged as a major threat in Africa, where it has been identified in over 30 countries since it was first confirmed on the continent in January 2016. The pest can potentially feed on 80 different crop species but has a preference for maize, which poses a significant threat to the food security, income and livelihoods of over 300 million African smallholder farm families that consume maize as a staple crop.

“The potential impact of the fall armyworm as a major food security and economic risk for African nations cannot be overstated,” said Martin Kropff, director general at CIMMYT.

If proper control measures are not implemented, the fall armyworm could cause extensive maize yield losses of up to $6.2 billion per year in just 12 countries in Africa where its presence has been confirmed, according to the Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI).

“The fall armyworm poses an enormous and wide-scale risk to the livelihoods of several million African smallholders, and requires urgent deployment of an IPM strategy and quick response from all stakeholders,” said B.M. Prasanna, director of MAIZE and the Global Maize Program at CIMMYT. “The Fall Armyworm Integrated Pest Management Guide provides comprehensive details on the best management practices to help smallholder farmers effectively and safely control the pest while simultaneously protecting people, animals and the environment.”

To read “Fall Armyworm in Africa: A Guide for Integrated Pest Management,” please click here.

"The Wizard and the Prophet" looks at the world’s most threatening challenges through the eyes of scientists Norman Borlaug (left) and William Vogt. (Photos: CIMMYT, AICBC)

Are you a wizard or a prophet?

Written by on January 23, 2018. Posted in Features.

Charles Mann’s The Wizard and the Prophet released today seeks to reconcile two worldviews spurred by agronomist Norman Borlaug and ecologist William Vogt, to help us better understand how we can feed 10 billion people by 2050; without destroying our planet in the process.

Borlaug, the “wizard” of the book, launched his vision from a small parcel of “badly damaged land” near Mexico City that would become the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). He was a key figure in developing high-yielding wheat varieties that saved millions from starvation in the 1960s, launching a global Green Revolution and becoming an emblem for “techno-optimism,” or the view that science and technology will meet humanity’s growing demands.

Vogt’s 1948 book “The Road to Survival” became the blueprint for today’s modern environmental movement, prophesizing that unless humankind drastically reduces consumption, its growing numbers and appetite will overwhelm the planet’s resources. His novels and speeches inspired conservationists from Rachel Carson to Paul Ehrlich, and defined our concept of “environment” as an entity that deserves respect and protection.

Mann uses the views of Borlaug and Vogt as endpoints on a “wizard-prophet” spectrum to illustrate different approaches experts are taking to solve four great, complex challenges of our time: food, water, energy and climate change.

But who is right? We, humans, are the only species on Earth that have been able to bend nature to our will. For thousands of years we burned forests to kill insects and encourage the growth of useful species, then later turned the planet into our “personal petri dish,” as Mann puts it, with the rise of agriculture and creation of crops like maize, which allowed Mesoamerican civilizations to grow and flourish. Today, violence and poverty are at an all-time low due to the wizardly-successes of Borlaug and others

However, Mann cautions past successes are no guarantee of the future. Vogt’s Malthusian predictions didn’t come to pass, but Borlaug’s wizardry also had unintended social and environmental consequences. Fertilizer runoff, over-extraction of groundwater and the burning of fossil fuels are creating an increasingly inhospitable planet and arguably pushing us closer to Vogt’s envisioned planetary limits than ever before.

Norman Borlaug works with researchers in the field. (Photo: CIMMYT archives)

Both Borlaug and Vogt identified as environmentalists trying to solve the same monumental challenge of having too many people to feed but not enough resources. Their ideological heirs are also working to solve equally challenging problems but are bitterly opposed, in large part because the argument is less about facts and more about values.

Prophets see humans as living in a finite world with constrained limits imposed by the environment, while wizards believe human ingenuity gives us an endless array of tools to manage the environment for our needs.

Mann doesn’t take either side, but rather offers solutions proposed by both prophets and wizards. He cites efforts to change the way photosynthesis works in rice at the International Rice Research Institute, but also initiatives like the domestication of wild perennial plants at the Land Institute. Both prophets and wizards have multiple, on-going efforts to meet all four challenges that Mann covers in the book. He says that it’s possible individual efforts won’t work, but the odds of all efforts failing are equally small.

Most importantly, there are many individuals and organizations today that are attempting to embrace both ideologies. CIMMYT, an organization that was founded by the original wizard, now incorporates sustainable agriculture practices into its work globally, with an emphasis on social inclusion.

The Wizard and the Prophet’s in-depth mix of biographical, historical, philosophical and scientific detail allows us to confront our wizard/prophet bias, and leaves one with a greater sense of respect for those with differing views on how we should shape our world in the 21^st century.

Buy “The Wizard and the Prophet: Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow’s World” here.

Emergency seed fuels quick farm recovery in drought-affected Ethiopia

Written by Mike Listman on January 11, 2018. Posted in Features.

Worker rogueing a wheat seed production plot. Photo: CIMMYT/A.Habtamu.

In response to Ethiopia’s worst drought in 50 years and the country’s critical shortage of maize and wheat seed for sowing in 2016, Ethiopian organizations, seed producers, and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) partnered to deliver to farmers over 3,400 tons of high quality seed that was sown on more than 100,300 hectares.

“We went three years without rain,” says farmer Usman Kadir, whose 1.5-hectare homestead in Wanjo Bebele village, Halaba Special Woreda, supports a household of 11 persons. “We were able to eat thanks to emergency food programs.” In 2017, Kadir used emergency maize seed to sow half a hectare and harvested 3 tons, getting his farm back on its feet. “If more new improved varieties come, we want to work with you and expand our farming operation.”

Funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) of the U.S. Ethiopia mission, seed relief complemented international and national food aid, helping farm families to quickly grow crops after several seasons of erratic or failed rains in Ethiopia and the catastrophic 2015-16 El Niño droughts. At that time, more than 10 million people struggled to find food, as eastern Ethiopia faced crop losses from 50 to 90 percent of expected yields.

“This effort helped rescue the food security and livelihoods of more than 271,000 rural households and 1.6 million individuals in Ethiopia’s Amhara, Oromia, Tigray, and SNNP regions, and strengthened seed systems to address future climate, disease, and pest crises,” said Bekele Abeyo, CIMMYT wheat scientist who led the seed relief initiative.

Farmers are using maize and wheat varieties suitable for drought-affected areas and resistant to prevalent crop diseases. Photo: CIMMYT/A.Habtamu — Farmers are growing maize and wheat varieties suitable for drought- and disease-affected areas. Photo: CIMMYT/ A. Habtamu

Wheat and maize: Mainstays of food security

Agriculture provides 42 percent of Ethiopia’s GDP, 77 percent of employment, and 84 percent of exports. Subsistence, smallholder farmers predominate, making their living from less than two hectares of land. Wheat and maize are the most important crops for food security; they are also at the center of Ethiopia’s increasingly vibrant agricultural output markets and have been the focus in recent years of public investment to raise national production.

Maize and wheat production in Ethiopia depends on rainfall, making the unpredictable weather patterns caused by climate change exceptionally detrimental here. Various studies predict an average 30 percent reduction in farm incomes due to climate change impacts, including greater extremes in temperatures and rainfall (floods, droughts) and the emergence of new pest and disease strains. Research shows that reduced precipitation is already holding back wheat yields.

To address this, experts identified maize and wheat varieties suitable for drought-affected areas and highly resistant to prevalent crop diseases. Of the maize varieties, some 10 percent were quality protein maize, which carries enhanced levels of key amino acids for protein synthesis in humans.

“This effort also provided training for district and zonal development agents in crop protection, agronomy, drought mitigation practices, and seed systems,” said Abeyo. “Finally, five women seed producer associations received wheat seed threshers and a large union of farmer seed producer cooperatives received a maize sheller through the initiative. This equipment will greatly expedite their operations and contribute to the expanded and more reliable access of farmers to affordable, quality seed in the future.”

Partners and contributors

Emergency relief seed was sourced through diverse CIMMYT partnerships, including producers in the USAID-funded “Drought Tolerant Maize for Seed Scaling Project” (DTMASS) and “Wheat Seed Scaling Initiative.” Stakeholders included the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources (MoANR), the Bureau of Agriculture and Natural Resources (BoANR), public and private seed companies/enterprises, farmer cooperative unions, federal and regional research institutes, and non-government organizations working in target areas. With funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Ethiopia’s Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) helped deliver seed to drought-affected districts and jointly organized training and workshops.

Click here to read a full report on the emergency seed relief initiative.

Innovation leads South Asia’s new Green Revolution

Written by on January 9, 2018. Posted in News.

Agricultural leaders from across South Asia recently gathered in Dhaka, Bangladesh to create a roadmap on how to best help farmers cope with climate change while meeting future food demand. Photo: Photo credit: CIMMYT/ M. DeFreese — Agricultural leaders from across South Asia recently meet to discuss how to best tackle climate change while meeting future food demand. Photo: CIMMYT/ M. DeFreese

Fifty years ago, economists and population experts predicted millions were about to die from famine.

India and other Asian countries were expected by scholars like Paul Ehrlich in The Population Bomb to be especially hard hit in the 1970s and 1980s, given the region’s high population growth rates.

South Asia braced for mass starvation as hunger and malnutrition spread while multiple droughts plagued India and neighboring countries – but it never happened.

Instead, rice and wheat yields more than doubled in Asia from the 1960s to 1990s, grain prices fell, people consumed nearly a third more calories and the poverty rate was cut in half – despite the population growing 60 percent.

Improved rice and wheat varieties combined with the expanded use of fertilizers, irrigation and supportive public policies for agriculture led to this dramatic growth in food production and human development that would become known as the Green Revolution.

Today, South Asia faces new, but equally daunting challenges. By 2050, the United Nations predicts the world’s population will grow by more than two billion people, 30 percent of which will be in South and Southeast Asia. These regions are also where the effects of climate change, like variable rainfall and extreme flooding, are most dire.

Wheat, maize and rice yields in South Asia could decrease by as much as 30 percent over this century unless farmers adopt innovations to mitigate rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns.

Agricultural leaders from across South Asia recently gathered in Dhaka, Bangladesh to create a roadmap on how to best help farmers cope with climate change while meeting future food demand.

“South Asian agriculture needs to be transformed as it was during the Green Revolution,” according to ML Jat, principal scientist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and co-author of a recent policy brief detailing the policy dialogue in Bangladesh. “Holistic management and more efficient use of resources to protect soil, water and air quality is necessary to improve both agricultural and human health.”

Public policies across the region currently subsidize agrochemicals, irrigation and unsustainable tilling, making it an uphill battle for many who promote sustainable intensification – a set of practices that adapt farming systems to climate change and sustainably manage land, soil, nutrient and water resources – as an alternative to these environmentally destructive practices.

Sustainable intensification advocates in South Asia have found that conservation agriculture – a sustainable management paradigm based on the principles of minimal soil disturbance, permanent soil cover and the use of crop rotation to simultaneously maintain and boost yields, increase profits and protect the environment – could be greatly expanded to benefit farmers across the region.

Conservation agriculture was first adopted in South Asia in the mid-1990s for no-till wheat farming and has since spread to cover more than 5 million hectares of farmland, mostly in India. Precision land levelers, machines equipped with laser-guided drag buckets to level fields so water flows evenly into soil — rather than running off or collecting in uneven land — were also adopted during this time, which significantly boosted conservation agriculture’s impact.

“When these technologies are combined with improved seed, like HD-2967, Munal, HDCSW 18, the benefits for farmers are even greater,” said Jat.

Despite this growth, conservation agriculture is practiced on just two percent of South Asia’s arable land, and very limited farmers end up adopting the complete set of sustainable intensification practices necessary to fully boost production while conserving the environment.

“While some practices like zero-till wheat have become very popular, growing rice in submerged fields remains a common practice which is one of the major obstacle in the adoption of full conservation agriculture in irrigated intensive rice-wheat systems of South Asia,” said Jat.

Policies that support farmers with few resources to take chances to experiment with conservation agriculture, such as guaranteeing a cash payout if crops fail or free access to zero-till machinery, can give people the incentive and protection they need to permanently shift the way they farm.

In addition to on-the-ground policy commitments, delegates in Bangladesh declared conservation agriculture and sustainable intensification should be at the heart of South Asia’s development agenda not only to improve national food security but to meet international obligations.

“If we don’t make South Asia’s farming sustainable, we will fail to meet international commitments on climate change, poverty and the environment, including the Sustainable Development Goals,” said Raj Paroda, Chairman of the Trust for Advancement of Agricultural Science (TAAS).

Delegates at the meeting called for a significant boost in funding towards conservation agriculture for sustainable intensification efforts, as well as the need to incorporate sustainable intensification practices in existing publicly-funded agricultural development initiatives.

Finally, the delegates created a platform where regional leaders, national agricultural research centers, donors and international research organizations can share knowledge, success stories, new technologies and expertise.

Read the full policy brief of the Scaling Conservation Agriculture for Sustainable Intensification in South Asia meeting here.

New Publications: Mitigating climate change effects on food security

Written by on December 7, 2017. Posted in Publications.

Long term conservation agriculture in practice. Photo: CIMMYT/X. Fonseca — Long term conservation agriculture in practice.
Photo: CIMMYT/X. Fonseca

A new study on climate change patterns indicates that climate change could reduce total crop production 23 percent by 2050, the same year in which human population is expected to increase past nine billion people.

Globally, one in nine people were unable to meet their dietary energy requirements in 2015 and that number is expected to increase. Food insecurity is exacerbated by unstable global food prices, which are a reflection of unpredictable crop production seasons due to extreme weather patterns like temperature shocks, drought and flooding.

Climate-resilient agriculture has been touted as essential to achieving food security in the future. The study shows that improvements in technology and agronomic practices have the capacity to increase global food production to adequate levels, even in extreme conditions.

The authors say that beginning to implement mitigation and adaptation technologies now is crucial to check climate change’s adverse impact on global crop production and food security.

Read the full study “Impact of climate change, weather extremes, and price risk on global food supply” and check out other publications by CIMMYT staff below:

Participatory integrated assessment of scenarios for organic farming at different scales in Camargue, France. 2016. Delmotte, S., Barbier, J.M., Mouret, J.C., Le Page, C., Wery, J., Chauvelon, P., Sandoz, A., Lopez-Ridaura, S. In: Agricultural Systems, vol.143, p.147-158.

Patterns and determinants of household use of fuels for cooking: empirical evidence from sub-Saharan Africa. 2016. Dil Bahadur Rahut, Behera, B., Ali, A. In: Energy, vol. 117, p. 93-104.

Photosynthetic contribution of the ear to grain filling in wheat: a comparison of different methodologies for evaluation. 2016. Sanchez-Bragado, R., Molero, G., Reynolds, M.P., Araus, J.L. In: Journal of Experimental Botany, vol. 67, no.9, p.2787-2798.

Pm55, a developmental-stage and tissue-specific powdery mildew resistance gene introgressed from Dasypyrum villosum into common wheat. 2016. Ruiqi Zhang, Bingxiao Sun, Chen, J., Aizhong Cao, Liping Xing, Yigao Feng, Caixia Lan, Peidu Chen. In: Theoretical and Applied Genetics, vol.129, p.1975-1984.

Precise estimation of genomic regions controlling lodging resistance using a set of reciprocal chromosome segment substitution lines in rice. 2016. Taiichiro Ookawa, Ryo Aoba, Toshio Yamamoto, Tadamasa Ueda, Toshiyuki Takai, Shuichi Fukuoka, Tsuyu Ando, Shunsuke Adachi, Makoto Matsuoka, Takeshi Ebitani, Yoichiro Kato, Indria Wahyu Mulsanti, Kishii, M., Reynolds, M.P., Piñera Chavez, F.J., Toshihisa Kotake, Shinji Kawasaki, Takashi Motobayashi, Tadashi Hirasawa. In: Nature Scientific reports, vol.6, no. 30572.

Predicting hybrid performances for quality traits through genomic-assisted approaches in Central European wheat. 2016. Guozheng Liu, Yusheng Zhao, Gowda, M., Longin, F.H., Reif, J.C., Florian Mette, M. In: PLoS One, vol 11, no. 7.

Predicting Rift Valley fever inter-epidemic activities and outbreak patterns: insights from a stochastic Host-Vector Model. 2016. Pedro, S.A., Abelman, S., Tonnang, H. In: PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, vol.10, no.12, 1-26 p.

Household energy consumption and its determinants in Timor-Leste. 2017. Dil Bahadur Rahut, Mottaleb, K.A., Ali, A. In: Asian development review, v. 34, no. 1, p. 167-197.

Cover crop-based reduced tillage system influences Carabidae (Coleoptera) activity, diversity and trophic group during transition to organic production. 2017. Rivers, A., Mullen, C., Wallace, J., Barbercheck, M. In: Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, v. 32, no. 6, p. 538-551.

Impact of climate change, weather extremes, and price risk on global food supply. 2017. Haile, M.G., Wossen, T., Kindie Tesfaye Fantaye, Joachim, vB. In: Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, v. 1, p. 55-75.

Australian High Commissioner to India visits project fields

Written by on December 5, 2017. Posted in News.

Group photo during Australian High Commissioner to India, Harinder Sidhu's visit. Photo courtesy of SRFSI program. — Group photo during the visit of the Australian High Commissioner to India, Harinder Sidhu. Photo: SRFSI program.

DEHLI, India (CIMMYT) – This November, the work of the Sustainable and Resilient Farming Systems Intensification (SRFSI) project was marked with notable recognition by the Australian Government with a visit from the Australian High Commissioner to India, Harinder Sidhu. The project is co-led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).

Field visit at SRFSI. Photo courtesy of SRFSI program. — Field visit at SRFSI. Photo: SRFSI program.

Sidhu’s visit to observe the SRFSI project’s activities from a grassroots level allowed her to have hands-on experience and interaction with university students, farmers, women’s self-help groups, local service providers and private agencies engaged as members of an SRFSI innovation platform.

Sidhu met with the members of a farmers’ club which is solely operated and monitored by women of the local community. She was highly impressed with the efforts of these women to make themselves independent and self-reliant through new innovations in mushroom, fish and duck farming.

Australian High Commissioner to India, Harinder Sidhu, sitting with a local women's group. Photo courtesy of SRFSI program. — Australian High Commissioner to India, Harinder Sidhu, sitting with a local women’s group. Photo: SRFSI program.

“It was heartening to observe the positive response of the farmers, especially women, to conservation and sustainable farming, and how the technology has improved incomes, reduced drudgery, had positive health impacts and facilitated the development of agri-entrepreneurs,” said Sidhu in her thank you letter.

On the last day of her visit to trial fields, Sidhu was impressed by the service provider business model developed by the SRFSI project to facilitate the creation of employment opportunities and motivation for youth to engage in farming activities.

Sidhu wrote, “I wish you and your team success in reaching out to farmers in north Bengal and working together with them to improve their lives and those of future generations.”

SRFSI is led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and jointly implemented by the Department of Agriculture, Government of West Bengal and Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya Agricultural University.

New systems analysis tools help boost the sustainable intensification of agriculture in Bangladesh

Written by on December 4, 2017. Posted in News.

Group photo at ESAP workshop in Bangladesh. Photo: CSISA.

DHAKA, Bangladesh (CIMMYT) – In South Asia, the population is growing and land area for agricultural expansion is extremely limited. Increasing the productivity of already farmed land is the best way to attain food security.

In the northwestern Indo-Gangetic Plains, farmers use groundwater to irrigate their fields. This allows them to grow two or three crops on the same piece of land each year, generating a reliable source of food and income for farming families. But in the food-insecure lower Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains in Bangladesh, farmers have lower investment capacities and are highly risk averse. Combined with environmental difficulties including ground water scarcity and soil and water salinity, cropping is often much less productive.

Could the use of available surface water for irrigation provide part of the solution to these problems? The government of Bangladesh has recently promoted the use of surface water irrigation for crop intensification. The concept is simple: by utilizing the country’s network of largely underutilized natural canals, farmers can theoretically establish at least two well-irrigated and higher-yielding crops per year. The potential for this approach to intensifying agriculture however has various limitations. High soil and water salinity, poor drainage and waterlogging threaten crop productivity. In addition, weakly developed markets, rural to urban out-migration, low tenancy issues and overall production risk limit farmers’ productivity. The systematic nature of these problems calls for new approaches to study how development investments can best be leveraged to overcome these complex challenges to increase cropping intensity.

Policy makers, development practitioners and agricultural scientists recently gathered to respond to these challenges at a workshop in Dhaka. They reviewed research results and discussed potential solutions to common limitations. Representatives from more than ten national research, extension, development and policy institutes participated. The CSISA-supported workshop however differed from conventional approaches to research for development in agriculture, in that it explicitly focused on interdisciplinary and systems analysis approaches to addressing these complex problems.

Systems analysis is the process of studying the individual parts and their integration into complex systems to identify ways in which more effective and efficient outcomes can be attained. This workshop focused on these approaches and highlighted new advances in mathematical modeling, geospatial systems analysis, and the use of systems approaches to farmer behavioral science.

Timothy J. Krupnik, Systems Agronomist at CIMMYT and CSISA Bangladesh country coordinator, gave an overview of a geospatial assessment of landscape-scale irrigated production potential in coastal Bangladesh to start the talks.

For the first time in Bangladesh, research using cognitive mapping, a technique developed in cognitive and behavioral science that can be used to model farmers’ perceptions of their farming systems, and opportunities for development interventions to overcome constraints to intensified cropping, was described. This work was conducted by Jacqueline Halbrendt and presented by Lenora Ditzler, both with the Wageningen University.

“This research and policy dialogue workshop brought new ideas of farming systems and research, and has shown new and valuable tools to analyze complex problems and give insights into how to prioritize development options,” said Executive Director of the Krishi Gobeshona Foundation, Wais Kabir.

Workshop participants also discussed how to prioritize future development interventions, including how to apply a new online tool that can be used to target irrigation scheme planning, which arose from the work presented by Krupnik. Based on the results of these integrated agronomic and socioeconomic systems analyses, participants also learned how canal dredging, drainage, micro-finance, extension and market development must be integrated to achieve increases in cropping intensity in southern Bangladesh.

Mohammad Saidur Rahman, Assistant Professor, Seed Science and Technology department at Bangladesh Agriculture University, also said he appreciated the meeting’s focus on new methods. He indicated that systems analysis can be applied not only to questions on cropping intensification in Bangladesh, but to other crucial problems in agricultural development across South Asia.

The workshop was organized by the Enhancing the Effectiveness of Systems Analysis Tools to Support Learning and Innovation in Multi-stakeholder Platforms (ESAP) project, an initiative funded by the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE) through the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and supported in Bangladesh through the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA). ESAP is implemented by Wageningen University’s Farming Systems Ecology group and the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT).

CSISA is a CIMMYT-led initiative implemented jointly with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). CSISA works to increase the adoption of various resource-conserving and climate-resilient technologies by operating in rural “innovation hubs” in Bangladesh, India and Nepal, and seeks to improve farmers’ access to market information and enterprise development.

World leaders: Back climate change action in agriculture to give our food system a fighting chance

Written by Mike Listman on November 13, 2017. Posted in News.

Global climate change negotiators meet this week to tackle myriad issues, including how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture and protect food and farming from worsening climate impacts.

But unheralded and behind COP23 headlines, governments, private companies, and scientists led by CGIAR are already developing and sharing life-saving innovations for farmers, particularly smallholders, who fight daily at the climate change frontlines.

Technology such as drought- and heat-tolerant maize, resistant crops and control practices to combat newly-emerging pests, insurance to recover from extreme or erratic weather, and more targeted use of nitrogen fertilizers are already being adopted in Africa and Asia to reduce agriculture’s footprint while improving farm resilience and productivity.

Click here to read a message by Elwyn Grainger-Jones, Executive Director, CGIAR System Organization, and Martin Kropff, Director General, CIMMYT (the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center) describing these efforts and issuing a wake-up call for world leaders.

Governments must raise, not cut, funding for food security

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on November 8, 2017. Posted in In the media.

A Financial Times editorial by CIMMYT wheat physiologist Matthew Reynolds presents a new proposal for expanding the wheat network to include other major food crops and speed farmers’ adoption of vital technologies that can end hunger and address climate change. The idea has the support of experts from leading funding and development agencies.

https://www.ft.com/content/b3d07616-c3d3-11e7-a1d2-6786f39ef675