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.

Drought tolerant maize provides extra 9 months of food for farming families

Written by on September 29, 2017. Posted in News.

Farmer Joyce Mapeto shucks maize after harvesting her crop in in Pindukai village, Shamva district, Zimbabwe. Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT

A new study from scientists with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) shows that drought tolerant (DT) maize varieties can provide farming families in Zimbabwe an extra 9 months of food at no additional cost. As climate change related weather events such as variable rainfall and drought continue to impact the southern African nation at an increasing rate, these varieties could provide a valuable safety net for farmers and consumers.

The study found that households that grew DT maize were able to harvest 617 kilograms more maize per hectare than households that did not grow DT maize varieties. This translates into $240 per hectare extra income for households that grow DT maize varieties, equivalent to 9 months’ worth of additional food security.

As 93 percent of households surveyed grow improved maize varieties using seed purchased from local markets, this shows that by switching to DT varieties local farmers could greatly improve their livelihoods and food security at no additional cost. Currently, only 30 percent of households surveyed grow DT varieties.

Drought susceptible maize variety devastated by drought in Mutoko district, Zimbabwe. Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT — Drought susceptible maize variety devastated by drought in Zimbabwe. Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT

Drought is a major limiting factor for maize production and can reduce maize yields by up to nearly 40 percent. In the past 10 years, most farmers in southern Africa have experienced around 1–3 drought years, potentially due to climate change. However, Zimbabwean farmers reported 4–5 years of drought in the past 10 years. Adoption of drought-tolerant maize varieties by farmers is crucial to maintaining food security in the region. Studies have shown that CIMMYT DT maize varieties can increase yields by 40 percent under severe drought conditions compared to local commercial varieties.

The production and productivity of maize in Zimbabwe have been decreasing since the early 1990s, taking the country from its role as a surplus producer of maize to a net food importer. Climate change is contributing significantly to this decline, as Zimbabwe is particularly vulnerable to climate change due to its dependence on rain-fed agriculture. The study’s authors recommend an increase in the promotion and production of DT maize in order to help reverse this trend and help smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe mitigate the effects of climate change while increasing maize production and yield.

Drought tolerant maize harvested in Zimbabwe. Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT

This research was conducted under the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project. Jointly implemented by CIMMYT and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) with funding from the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE), the project worked to mitigate drought and other constraints to maize production in sub-Saharan Africa through improved drought-tolerant maize varieties. Millions of farmers in the region benefited from the outputs of this partnership, which included support and training for African seed producers and the promotion of vibrant, competitive seed markets. The project ended in 2015, but DTMA varieties continue to be promoted through the Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) project, which will work to develop 70 additional new improved stress-tolerant varieties using innovative modern breeding technologies.

Read the full study here.

Impact of adoption of drought-tolerant maize varieties on total maize production in south Eastern Zimbabwe. 2017. Lunduka, R.W., Mateva, K.I., Magorokosho, C., Manjeru, P. In: Climate and Development, DOI: 10.1080/17565529.2017.1372269

Zimbabwe indicated its intentions to “promote the use of indigenous and scientific knowledge on drought tolerant crop types and varieties” as part of a national action plan on climate change submitted to the UN ahead of the Paris climate talks in 2015. As the next round of climate change negotiations gear up in Bonn this November, negotiators will need to decide how to support countries to take action on agriculture, a decision which was postponed at the May negotiations.

At this year’s UN Climate Talks, CIMMYT is highlighting innovations in wheat and maize that can help farmers overcome climate change. Follow @CIMMYT on Twitter and Facebook for the latest updates.

Delegates gather in Morocco to combat nematodes in agriculture

Written by on September 28, 2017. Posted in News.

Participants of the 6th International Cereal Nematode Symposium in Agadir, Morocco. Photo: Abdelfattah Dababat/ CIMMYT

AGADIR, Morocco (CIMMYT) – Eighty delegates from across the globe recently gathered at the 6^th International Cereal Nematode Symposium in Agadir, Morocco to discuss the spread of nematodes, what strategies can be used to lessen their impact on crops and boost international collaboration on research.

Plant–parasitic nematodes pose an enormous threat to global food security, destroying about 15 percent of global food production annually, a loss of more than $157 billion worldwide.

“Nematodes are the unseen enemy of our crops,” said Ricard Sikora, a professor at the University of Bonn in Germany who spoke at the symposium. “[They] attack the root of the crop…they are little worms that most people don’t even know exist, but they are having a devastating effect on our ability to feed ourselves properly now and in the future.”

During the opening speech of the symposium, which was held from September 11-16, the Director of Morocco’s National Institute for Agricultural Research’s (INRA) regional center in Agadir Abdelaziz Mimouni gave a general presentation about the different centers of INRA-Morocco as well as its research programs on cereals.

Turkish delegates at the 6th International Cereal Nematode Symposium. Photo: Abdelfattah Dababat/ CIMMYT

Fatih Ozdemir, director of the Bahri Dağdaş International Agricultural Research Institute and coordinator for the International Winter Wheat Improvement Program in Turkey, spoke about the importance of the soil borne diseases in Turkey and the region. Tadesse Wuletaw, wheat breeder at the International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA), welcomed participants and spoke about the role of breeding programs to control diseases.

“We have so many common problems in each of our nations,” said Richard Smiley, a professor from Oregon State University who presented on cereal nematodes in the Pacific Northwest. “Our goal is to understand and describe the biology of those nematodes, but also to determine how they can best be managed economically by our farmers.”

Abdelfattah Dababat, leader of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center’s (CIMMYT) Soil Borne Pathogens Program, thanked CIMMYT and donors for supporting the Symposium as well as INRA for hosting this symposium. The conference was coordinated and organized by Dababat as part of the ICARDA-CIMMYT Wheat Improvement Program (ICWIP), and funded by CIMMYT, INRA, DuPont, Bisab, Labomine, Agrifuture, GRDC and Syngenta.

The 7^th International Cereal Nematode Symposium will be held in India in 2019. For more information, please contact Abdelfattah A. Dababat at a.dababat@cgiar.org or the local organizer for the 7^th Symposium in India Umarao at umanema@gmail.com.

Watch a video summary of the 6^th International Cereal Nematode Symposium in Agadir, Morocco below:

Yemen identified as “stepping stone” to wheat stem rust’s global spread

Written by on September 26, 2017. Posted in News.

A new study reports Yemen as a particular tipping point for stem rust’s global spread. Photo: CIMMYT/ Petr Kosina — A new study reports Yemen as a particular tipping point for stem rust’s global spread. Photo: Petr Kosina/ CIMMYT

MEXICO CITY (CIMMYT) – New research reveals the most likely routes for the spread of new wheat stem rust strains, identifying Yemen as a critical transmission area for the disease’s global spread.

In the Nature Plants study, scientists from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the University of Cambridge and the UK Met Office adapted modeling systems previously used to forecast ash dispersal from erupting volcanoes and radiation from nuclear accidents to predict the spread of stem rust strains.

The study quantifies for the first time the circumstances – routes, timings and outbreak sizes – under which dangerous strains of stem rust pose a threat, detailing potential scenarios of the disease spreading from Africa through the Middle East and beyond.

Yemen is highlighted as a particular tipping point for stem rust’s global spread, with one scenario estimating a 30 percent chance for transmission to occur in Pakistan or India – home to some of the world’s most critical “breadbasket” regions – if the disease spreads to eastern Yemen.

“From our work, we now believe that if we start to see Ug99 or other new wheat rust strains take hold in Yemen in early spring then action must be taken immediately to mitigate the risk of further spread,” according to the study’s senior author Chris Gilligan, professor at Cambridge’s Department of Plant Sciences.

However, the researchers found that the airborne transmission of the disease from East Africa directly to South Asia is highly unlikely, with transmission events possible only on less than one day a year.

The modelling framework created in the study can also be used to analyze any potential new disease strains that might emerge in other geographic areas. The study’s researchers are currently developing an Early Warning System to forecast rust risk in Ethiopia, East Africa’s largest wheat producing country.

Read the full study “Quantifying airborne dispersal routes of pathogens over continents to safeguard global wheat supply” here.

Learn more about wheat stem rust and its impact on food security below:

Likely scenarios for global spread of devastating crop disease

CIMMYT scientist cautions against new threats from wheat rust diseases

RustTracker.org | A Global Wheat Rust Monitoring System

Leading nutritionist Julie Miller Jones promotes the benefits of whole grains. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Leading nutritionist cites whole grains as critical for better nutrition and health

Written by Mike Listman on September 19, 2017. Posted in News.

People who eat the most whole grain foods have a lower risk of almost all chronic diseases and are less likely to gain weight as they age, according to Julie Miller Jones, Distinguished Scholar and Professor Emerita at St. Catherine University, U.S.A.

“All kinds of epidemiological research shows that whole grain intake reduces obesity and the risk of diabetes, coronary heart and cardiovascular diseases, stroke, cancers, and death from all causes,” said Miller Jones, speaking to representatives of food processing companies and associations and scientists at the first “Maize and Wheat Quality and Nutrition Day” held near Mexico City on September 14.

Miller Jones emphasized that relatively modest amounts of grain in diets can deliver important health impacts. “We’re talking about eating around three slices of bread, or a bowl of oatmeal with a sandwich, or oatmeal in the morning, with pasta at lunch and rice at night,” she explained.

Hosted by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), a publicly-funded organization that works with hundreds of partners throughout the developing world to increase the productivity and quality of maize and wheat cropping systems, the event highlighted the critical connections between farmers, crop breeding and the quality of maize (corn) and wheat food products.

“It’s great that CIMMYT hosted this meeting,” said one participant, noting the complementary roles of the food industry and CIMMYT. “Companies like ours are only beginning to realize that improving our bottom line and sustainability doesn’t start with the flour we receive, but rather ten steps before that, with breeding, quality analyses, agronomy and even extension work in the field.”

In addition to packaged commercial breads, small individual loaves prepared daily in neighborhood bakeries are standard fare in Mexico. Photo: Mike Listman/ CIMMYT

The participants were impressed with Miller Jones’ presentation and the potential for partnering with CIMMYT, which conducts grain quality and nutritional analyses, development, selection and characterization of wheat and maize varieties for industrial and nutritional quality, as well as fostering the responsible sourcing of grain and linking farmers with markets.

“This is the first time we’ve brought together numerous essential actors in Mexico’s maize and wheat quality and nutrition value chains, and we expect that it will give dividends in better quality, more nutritious cereal grains and food for better diets,” said Natalia Palacios, CIMMYT maize nutrition and quality specialist.

In addition to using more than 35 million tons of maize each year as human food and animal feed, Mexico’s food processors annually handle more than 8 million tons of wheat grain.

“CIMMYT can serve as a shared platform for joint research with the food industry, outside of the competitive arena, and for messaging on healthy nutrition and diets,” suggested Carlos Guzmán, head of CIMMYT’s wheat chemistry and quality lab.

Together with the International Association for Cereal Science and Technology (ICC), Guzmán is organizing the 4th ICC Latin American Cereals Conference and the 13th International Gluten Workshop, both to be held in Mexico City from 11 to 17 March 2018.

Humans and food grain crops: Shared history and future

Miller Jones said that DNA of cooked grain has been found in the dental remains of Paleolithic humans, showing that people have been eating grain for more than 100,000 years. She also emphasized the need for balanced diets that feature all food groups in healthy amounts.

“We need to change our diets to healthy patterns that we can maintain for our entire lifetime, not something that you go on to go off,” she said, speaking recently in an online interview hosted by CIMMYT. “Just as nutrition experts have always recommended, unless you’re allergic to a particular food, a healthy diet should include products from all food groups, in the right amounts.”

AbduRahman Beshir (L), Muhammad Aslam (M) and Amir Maqbool (R), CIMMYT’s Ph.D. student who completed his study on provitamin A (PVA) enriched maize during field evaluation of PVA hybrids at UAF. (Photo: M. Waheed/CIMMYT)

Maize biofortification fights malnutrition in Pakistan

Written by on September 13, 2017. Posted in News.

ISLAMABAD (CIMMYT) – In Pakistan, malnutrition is endemic. Children, in particular, are severely affected, with nearly half of all children in Pakistan being chronically undernourished.

Chronic malnutrition commonly leads to a condition called stunting, which can permanently limit growth and development. Pakistan ranks among the highest countries in the world for vitamin A and zinc deficiencies, which affect cognition and can lead to otherwise preventable blindness.

A new initiative hopes to combat malnutrition in Pakistan using biofortified maize, a tactic already in use in several areas around the world.

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) has been improving yield, increasing total protein and micronutrient levels (like vitamin A and zinc) in maize for over 50 years. This work has continued in Pakistan through the United States Agency for International Development – funded Agricultural Innovation Program (AIP) in partnership with the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council and other stakeholders in public and private sector

Since 2014, AIP has been testing CIMMYT-biofortified maize varieties in Pakistan to ensure the maize will grow in local conditions. In some cases, improved maize outperformed even local commercial checks in terms of yield. Earlier this year, CIMMYT allocated three pro vitamin A (PVA) enriched maize hybrids to the University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF), making Pakistan the first South Asian country to receive these products. The seed increase of the parental lines as well as the hybrids is in progress currently to expedite the process of hybrid registration and large scale seed production. Apart from the higher carotenoid content, the grain yields of these hybrids are remarkably high with a record of up to 12 tons per hectare from the various testing stations in Pakistan. The average maize yield in Pakistan is 4 tons per hectare. In addition to the support from AIP, UAF is also contributing its own resources to harness the benefits of these hybrids and eventually reduce vitamin A deficiency.

“We will engage the private sector and other value chain actors to fast track the deployment of these hybrids in the target areas,” says Muhammad Aslam, assistant professor at UAF.

Each biofortified maize variety offers different benefits to consumers. Quality protein maize includes all the essential amino acids required by the human body, enhanced zinc maize makes zinc more available for human digestion and provitamin A maize contains natural pigments, called carotenoids, which are converted to vitamin A in the body. Biofortified maize has proven to effectively combat vitamin A and zinc deficiencies, and is already being used around the world to combat malnutrition.

Maize demand in Pakistan has more than tripled since the 1990s. Maize is now being utilized by farmers and consumers in Pakistan in various forms and it is the most important cereal crop in terms of productivity, with among the highest yields in South Asia.

A number of public and private partners have expressed interest in the commercialization of provitamin A and zinc enhanced maize products. Earlier this year, Pakistan released two quality maize protein hybrids for the first time, indicating the potential for biofortified maize products to grow in the country.

“What is important now is to enhance synergies among stakeholders and mobilize resources and required expertise to scale up the seed production and dissemination of these biofortified maize products to curb the deplorable trend of Pakistan’s hidden hunger,” says AbduRahman Beshir, CIMMYT’s seed systems specialist.

For more information on this work:

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Agricultural Innovation Program (AIP) for Pakistan works to increase agricultural productivity and incomes in the agriculture sector through the development and dissemination of new agriculture technologies. The project is managed by a group of CGIAR Centers and the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

New evidence shows forests help reduce malnutrition

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

Even in areas of high food security, vitamin and mineral deficiencies affect children in Southern Ethiopia. CIFOR Photo/Mokhamad Edliadi

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) — A new study shows that dietary diversity is highest in areas close to forests, even when people don’t collect forest food and don’t generate income from forest products.

Dietary diversity reflects the variety of foods you eat and is strongly associated with adequate nutrition you receive. Increasing dietary diversity is a key element in combatting malnutrition. In areas near forests, people typically have high-producing home gardens, fed by manure from the livestock they let graze in the woods.

Throughout the world, and particularly in the tropics, remaining forests are cut down to make way for farmland in order to feed a growing global population. However, even in areas of high food availability, children may struggle to get enough vitamins and minerals if they only eat calorically dense, nutrient sparse cereal crops, a phenomenon called hidden hunger. The authors state that while cereal crops will no doubt remain crucial to meet the caloric needs of the global population, it is important to maintain – and restore in places – high dietary diversity when facing hidden hunger. They recommend taking a holistic approach to agricultural development that maintains landscape diversity, as opposed to the current trend toward mono-cropping – growing a single crop year after year – and landscape simplification.

Read the full study “Indirect contributions of forests to dietary diversity in Southern Ethiopia” and check out the blog published by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).

Next generation hunger fighters call education key to a food secure future

Written by on August 10, 2017. Posted in News.

Jonathan Poole tests the color of bread samples in CIMMYT's wheat quality lab. Photo: CIMMYT/L.Strugnell — Jonathan Poole tests the color of bread samples in CIMMYT’s wheat quality lab. Photo: CIMMYT/L.Strugnell

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Education and partnership are essential to improve food security and ensure lasting world peace, two next generation hunger fighters interning at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) said in an interview for International Youth Day.

Research into agricultural innovation and cross-sectoral partnerships are the stepping-stones to overcome challenges that threaten our ability to produce enough nutritious food to meet growing global demand, said Jorge Del’Angel, an agricultural engineering student.

Del’Angel along with fellow intern Jonathan Poole are spending two-months at CIMMYT learning from some of the world’s top agricultural minds as part of the prestigious Borlaug-Ruan Internship program supported by the World Food Prize (WFP).

“I believe that education can fix a lot of global problems,” Del’Angel said. “We all understand that food security is a challenge but to understand that it’s a global problem we’ve got to build connections that allow people to learn and work together.”

With our ability to feed ourselves facing intensifying pressures from resource depletion, mounting inequality and the challenges of climate change, the internship program provides important training for a new generation of agricultural champions, said CIMMYT cropping systems agronomist Ravi Gopal Singh.

“Exposing youth to agriculture early is crucial to shaping their careers,” said Singh, who supervises Del’Angel at CIMMYT.

By taking an interest in agri-food systems, youth learn about challenges facing the world, and become ambassadors for spreading the word about how agriculture builds livelihoods and ensures peace, said Poole, who is shadowing nutrition experts at CIMMYT.

“No matter what age you are you can help tackle food insecurity,” he added.

Achieving a world free of hunger and eliminating poverty are essential conditions to pave the way for lasting world peace and are an essential part of the U.N. 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The World Bank estimates economic growth from agriculture is up to four times more effective at reducing poverty as growth originating from other sectors.

The United States based internship program is unique in that it engages high school and college students in hands-on contemporary research at world-class institutions addressing food security issues at the a time when they are deciding their academic pursuits and careers, said Lisa Fleming, the Director of International Internships and Career Development at the WFP.

Jorge Del'Angel checks on field trials of beans. Photo: CIMMYT/L.Strugnell — Jorge Del’Angel checks on field trials of beans. Photo: CIMMYT/L.Strugnell

“We endeavor to involve youth participants in ways that allow them to approach food security with a feeling of personal responsibility, understanding and engagement in a fashion that does not bore, frighten or leave them feeling hopeless or fearful for their future,” Fleming said. She added that for interns hosted at CIMMYT in Mexico, “it is evermore inspiring for our young interns to have the opportunity to walk the halls and test fields in Dr. Borlaug’s footsteps.”

Norman Borlaug, 1970 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and original hunger fighter, dedicated his life to working against food insecurity as a lead researcher at CIMMYT and with groups around the world. The Borlaug-Ruan internship stems from his legacy and places youth in real-world science, agricultural and food security issues, helping to build an effective succession plan for identifying and developing new, innovative leaders to feed the world.

CIMMYT has hosted Borlaug-Ruan interns since the inception of the program in 1998, annually hosting numerous summer interns in Mexico with additional students mentored over the years in Turkey and Thailand.

Breaking Ground: Scientist L.M. Suresh uses new technology to fight maize lethal necrosis disease in eastern Africa

Written by on August 3, 2017. Posted in Features.

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Maize lethal necrosis (MLN) disease is putting maize production at risk in eastern Africa, escalating food insecurity in the region.

First reported in Kenya in 2011, it has subsequently spread rapidly to neighboring countries and has now been confirmed in six eastern African countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

The disease, caused by a combination of the maize chlorotic mottle virus (MCMV) and sugarcane mosaic virus (SCMV), causes irreversible damage that kills maize plants before they can grow and yield grain. If a maize field is infected early in the cropping cycle, total yield losses may occur.

Scientist L.M. Suresh of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) plays a central role in efforts to keep the disease in check. He contributes significantly to the screening of maize germplasm against MLN/MCMV, and to the identification of maize hybrids with tolerance/resistance to the disease.

In 2013, CIMMYT and the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization established an MLN screening facility in Naivasha, Kenya, northwest of the capital Nairobi. The center serves as a centralized platform for screening maize germplasm under artificial inoculation from CIMMYT as well as public and private sector partners.

Suresh joined CIMMYT in 2015 as maize pathologist for sub-Saharan Africa. He is also manager of the MLN screening facility. As almost all of the commercial maize varieties currently grown in eastern Africa are susceptible to MLN, it is crucial to identify and develop germplasm with tolerance/resistance to the disease.

His work involves identifying sources of resistance to MLN and its component viruses MCMV and SCMV, and he works closely with other scientists on the genetic basis of MLN resistance. In addition, he contributes to the identification of elite maize hybrids that offer tolerance/resistance to MLN.

The use of advanced phenotyping technology makes it possible to quickly make physical observations of the plants on a large scale without painstaking manual scoring.

Another major component of Suresh’s work focuses on epidemiological factors related to MLN disease transmission, particularly seed transmission of MLN-causing viruses.

While focusing on MLN, he also works on other foliar – or leaf – diseases that are a threat to maize. As manager of the MLN screening facility, Suresh is responsible for the screening and indexing of about 84,000 rows of maize trials each year in three to four planting cycles at the Naivasha facility.

As of 2016, nearly 100,000 germplasm entries have been screened against MLN. To date, nine first generation MLN-tolerant elite maize hybrids have been released in East Africa. Several second-generation, CIMMYT-derived, MLN-resistant hybrids are currently being tested under national performance trials in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

Born in Madasuru-Lingadahalli, a rural village in southern India, Suresh grew up on a farm where he worked in the fields during school holidays helping with weeding, picking areca nuts and harvesting.

In the 1970s and 1980s, his father was recognized by the State Department of Agriculture as a “progressive farmer” for undertaking various innovative approaches to increase rice paddy yields. However, the family continued to face several challenges, including low yielding varieties, diseases, pests, water scarcity and volatile prices.

To try and overcome some of these hardships, Suresh decided to further his education in agriculture.

“I believe that a deeper knowledge of science might offer alternatives, and that we should explore these options to help smallholder farmers like my father get better yields without increasing costs,” Suresh said. “My family always supported me to pursue higher education in the field of agriculture.”

Suresh earned undergraduate and master’s degrees at the University of Agricultural Sciences in Bangalore. During that time, Professor and emeritus scientist Varagur Ganesan Malathi from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute was his mentor and guide, also supervising him while he completed his Ph.D. at Kuvempu University in Karnataka.

Before joining CIMMYT, Suresh worked for 19 years at seed companies, including 14 years for Monsanto in India, where he led a team of plant health scientists focusing on diseases in vegetables. Additionally, he supported teams working on maize and cotton to harmonize various disease screening protocols.

“Working in agriculture gives me the best opportunity to contribute to efforts to help smallholder farmers improve their livelihoods,” Suresh said. “CIMMYT is a place full of scientific rigor and experts who work collaboratively with partners and thus bring impact. A major disease like MLN brings researchers from various organizations and institutions from different parts of the world together to accelerate efforts to not only understand the disease and establish effective surveillance, but also to engage stakeholders to commercially scale up disease-resistant hybrids developed by CIMMYT.”

The MLN web information portal, to which Suresh contributes, provides comprehensive information on various initiatives to tackle the MLN challenge. This website and information management system was developed with the objective of providing a one-stop resource for all the relevant information on MLN to interested stakeholders.

Artificial inoculation of maize germplasm at the Naivasha MLN screening site, Kenya. (Photo: B.Wawa/CIMMYT)

New online portal offers information to curb maize lethal necrosis in Africa

Written by on July 24, 2017. Posted in News.

The new maize lethal necrosis (MLN) online portal provides up-to-date information and surveillance tools to help researchers control and stop the spread of the deadly disease.

MLN was first reported in Kenya in 2011 and has since then been reported in several countries in eastern Africa, especially the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. The disease kills plants before they can grow, and the pathogens are transmitted by insects or contaminated seed. Serious damage to the region’s maize production from MLN has impacted household food security.

The online portal, found at mln.cimmyt.org, details the spread of MLN, where the disease has been managed and controlled, and how to identify it in the field. It also provides key MLN publications, surveillance software, MLN incidence maps, information on the MLN Screening Facility, and MLN-tolerant hybrids that are either released or in pipeline.

One tool on the portal is the MLN surveillance and monitoring system that provides real-time data to identify the presence and spread of the disease across five endemic countries in eastern Africa, and three selected non-endemic countries in southern Africa. The system was developed by scientists collaborating with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

In 2016, MLN surveillance was successfully conducted in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe – three major seed producing countries in Africa – and the data is presented in the portal, detailing MLN’s status across 652 surveyed maize fields. Future data gathered in other affected countries will also be uploaded to the portal as surveillance teams conduct fieldwork using Global Positioning System online survey tools, to assess the spread and severity of the disease in these countries. Ongoing surveillance in endemic countries allows stakeholders to see real-time updates on the spread of MLN.

MLN susceptible hybrids compared to a CIMMYT-derived MLN-tolerant hybrid. Photo: CIMMYT

Since the disease was first reported, collaborative efforts have resulted in the establishment of a MLN Screening Facility at the Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) center at Naivasha in 2013. The facility, managed by CIMMYT, has so far screened nearly 100,000 maize germplasm entries — 56 percent from CIMMYT — against MLN under artificial inoculation over the last four years.

Nine CIMMYT-derived MLN-tolerant hybrids have been already released in three countries – seven in Kenya, one in Uganda and one in Tanzania. Eleven second generation hybrids are currently in national performance trials in these countries. Intensive efforts are currently being made by seed companies in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda to expand the delivery of MLN-tolerant maize seed to the smallholders.

The MLN portal enables researchers to comprehensively assess the situation with regard to MLN, helps strengthen the national disease monitoring and diagnostic systems by providing faster and accurate data, and offers access to CIMMYT-offered MLN phenotyping services.

New funding focus on agricultural research key to achieve global development goals

Written by on July 21, 2017. Posted in News.

Delegates at the conference called for different sectors to work together to achieve food security. Photo: P. Lowe/ CIMMYT

NEW YORK (CIMMYT) – Food and agriculture have the potential to be major drivers in helping the international community achieve the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, but are currently underutilized, said experts at a side event during the high-level political forum on sustainable development held this month in New York City.

Some 70 percent of the world’s poor live in rural areas where agriculture provides the main source of family income, directly impacting the food security, nutrition and livelihoods of millions, said delegates the Agriculture and Food Day to Implement the Sustainable Development Goals, hosted by the International Agri-Food Network on July 13.

Although agriculture is up to three times more effective than other sectors in boosting incomes of the world’s poorest, it only receives 4 percent of global aid, according to Michael Grant, deputy permanent representative of Canada to the U.N.

The session was organized to draw attention to the many challenges that still exist to prevent the realization of SDG2 “Zero Hunger” – which establishes a framework to end hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture – and consequently several other SDGs. Agriculture is deeply connected to all SDGs that aim to eradicate poverty and promote prosperity, a topic that was discussed by the high-level political forum on sustainable development July 10-19, as the international community took stock of achievements at the two-year mark.

“700 million people continue to live in extreme poverty,” said Peter Thomson, president of the U.N. General Assembly. “We must support global movements that work towards SDG2 so that come 2030, nobody is left behind in hunger or poverty,” he added.

“Despite advances, stunting in children has risen over 20 percent since 1990 in Africa,” said Yemi Akinbamijo, executive director of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa. Adding that malnutrition results in an 11 percent loss in GDP each year.

Additionally, the sector is the second largest emitter of global greenhouse gas emissions and the largest driver of deforestation, making agriculture one of the top contributors to climate change and biodiversity loss. At the same time, youth globally are turning away from agriculture, just as the world needs to set its sights on doubling food production over the next three decades.

“The United States needs to fill 60,000 agriculture-related jobs, but universities are only suppling about 60 percent of that demand,” said Jaine Chisholm Caunt, director general of the Grain and Feed trade Association.

How the development community addresses these challenges in our agri-food systems will have a significant impact on the success or failure of other SDGs, including those targeting resource management, ending poverty and malnutrition, building resilient infrastructure and empowering women and girls, argued the delegates.

David Nielson, co-chair of the Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services, cited former wheat breeder and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Norman Borlaug’s philosophy of knowledge sharing as a critical solution. Often the solution to agricultural development doesn’t lie in new technology, but can be as simple as sharing appropriate knowledge that works and is useful to farmers on their land, he said.

However, critical changes in the way farming communities access land and other resources – currently only 1 percent of women and 9 percent of men own land in Africa – must be made at the policy level so that these solutions can be successful in permanently bringing people out of poverty in the long-term, he added.

“When Kenya’s dairy industry became liberalized, my husband and I were able to build our own processing plant,” said Margaret Munene, co-founder and general manager of Palmhouse Dairies Limited Kenya, a dairy processing plant that has grown into a grassroots foundation of “Kenyans helping Kenyans.”

“The processing plant provided a market to farmers,” said Munene. “Before working there many women didn’t have bank accounts in their own names. We worked with microcredit organizations to improve their grazing units, buy better cows and other inputs. We also provided training to improve milk processing, to integrate dairy farming with other crops and other skills that improve income.”

Delegates at the conference also called for different sectors to work together and approach different aspects of the food security puzzle from a holistic perspective. Akinbamijo credited much of Africa’s food and nutrition challenges to the poor integration of science and production systems, with the latest research often failing to translate into the market.

“Governments and other public institutions must work better with the private sector,” added Rocco Renaldi, secretary general, International Food & Beverage Alliance. “Drawing on the expertise of non-state actors can help create novel solutions to agriculture’s challenges.”

Finally, ensuring these solutions don’t come at the expense of the planet is critical if we are to preserve resources for agriculture, said James Hansen, flagship leader with the CGIAR research program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security.

“Farming communities can successfully develop without damaging the environment,” said Maria Beatriz Giraudo, a fifth-generation farmer from Argentina and advocate of no-till farming, an agricultural practice that retains soil moisture, builds up nutrients and improves biodiversity.

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) supports the SDG agenda to create a new global partnership based on solidarity, cooperation and mutual accountability to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030 and deliver on the promise of sustainable development. See how CIMMYT contributes to 10 of the 17 SDG goals in the Strategic Plan 2017-2022.

Media highlight sustainable innovations in Pakistan during USAID tour

Written by on July 20, 2017. Posted in News.

AIP researcher in the maize stem borer lab – the only facility in Pakistan for mass rearing of maize stem borers. Photo: A.Yuqub /CIMMYT

Islamabad (CIMMYT) — The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and along with local and national media recently toured agricultural initiatives led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) at the National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC).

Yusuf Zafar, Chairman of the Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC), highlighted the Agricultural Innovation Program’s (AIP) aim to improve farming practices and livelihoods in farming communities – especially for smallholders – across Pakistan.

Funded by USAID and led by CIMMYT, AIP has helped boost agricultural productivity by bringing new technologies to the sector while of sustainable practices, which has helped improve Pakistan’s overall economy, Zafar added. Agriculture is the largest sector of Pakistan’s economy, supporting half of the country’s labor force.

PARC Chairman Yusuf Zafar briefing media about USAID, PARC and CIMMYT partnership through AIP to improve farming practices and livelihoods across Pakistan. Photo: A.Yuqub /CIMMYT

Muhammad Imtiaz, CIMMYT country representative in Pakistan and AIP project leader, briefed media representatives about the collaboration between USAID and CIMMYT along with the NARC and other partners. He highlighted key AIP successes, such as such as the introduction of new planting machineries and drip irrigation systems.

The tour also visited to maize fields at NARC where AIP initiatives in improved livestock, maize and wheat were showcased. AIP scholars – students who have completed their master’s degree in the U.S. with AIP funds – were also present and provided information on their experiences and accomplishments.

AIP will continue to scale out successful technologies, encourage innovation through national agricultural research systems and secure resources to combat climate change effects in agriculture.

Media coverage of the event:

Breaking Ground: Dagne Wegary at a busy intersection on the maize value chain

Written by Mike Listman on July 19, 2017. Posted in Features.

Like many scientists at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) who grew up in smallholder farm households, Dagne Wegary draws inspiration from recollections of adversity and has found in science a way to make things better.

“I saw how my community struggled with traditional crop and livestock husbandry and, at an early age, started to wonder if there was a science or technology that might ease those hurdles,” Wegary said, referring to his childhood in a village in Wollega, a western Ethiopian province bordering South Sudan.

“I chose to study and work in agriculture,” Wegary explains. “Even though the farming system in my home village has not changed significantly, I am happy that the community is now among Ethiopia’s top maize producers and users of improved seed and other agricultural inputs.”

As a maize seed system specialist, Wegary works at the nexus between breeding science and actual delivery of improved seed to farmers. He interacts regularly with diverse experts, including CIMMYT and Ethiopia’s breeders and members of the national ministries of agriculture, the Ethiopia Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA), non-governmental organizations including Sasakawa Global-2000 and World Vision, and especially public, private or community-based seed producers.

Quality seed is farmers’ principal means to improve productivity and secure food, according to Wegary, who calls it “the carrier of complementary production technologies, which in combination with improved agronomy can significantly increase crop yields.”

“I am most happy with Ethiopia’s increased maize productivity and self-sufficiency, which is due partly to the use of improved technologies to which we all contribute,” he said, noting that maize grain yields in Ethiopia had more than doubled since the 1990s, reaching 3.7 tons per hectare in 2016, a level second only to that of South Africa, in sub-Saharan Africa.

According to Wegary, these improvements are the result of strong government support for maize research and development, along with the strong partnership between CIMMYT and the national program that has led to the release of high-yielding, stress tolerant and nutritionally-enriched maize varieties. He said that farmers’ have also increased their use of improved technologies and that public, private and community-based companies now market seed.

“Supplying seed used to be highly-centralized, but farmers’ main sources of seed now are cooperatives that buy from seed companies or companies that market directly to farmers” Wegary explained. “Many companies have their own stockists and dealers who directly interact with farmers.”

Before joining CIMMYT, as a scientist with the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), Wegary helped to implement a number of CIMMYT-led projects. “These allowed me to know CIMMYT very well and sparked my interest in joining the Center and working with its high-caliber and exemplary scientists.”

A plant breeder by training with a doctoral degree in breeding from the University of the Free State, South Africa, soon after joining CIMMYT Wegary began to contribute to projects to develop and disseminate seed of improved maize varieties with high levels of drought tolerance and enhanced protein quality.

He has been involved since the early 2000s in promoting quality protein maize (QPM). The grain of QPM features enhanced levels of lysine and tryptophan, amino acids that are essential for humans and certain farm animals. Wegary took part in a CIMMYT project that supported the release of five new QPM varieties.

“Many companies are now producing and marketing QPM in Ethiopia,” Wegary said. A 2009 study in the science journal Food Policy found that eating QPM instead of conventional maize resulted in 12 and 9 percent increases in growth rates for weight and height, respectively, in infants and young children with mild-to-moderate undernutrition and where maize constituted the major staple food.

Wegary believes sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest challenges include climate change-induced heat and drought, natural resource depletion, and pest and disease outbreaks, coupled with increasing populations. In combination these factors are significantly reducing food security and the availability of resources.

“I want to be a key player in the battle towards the realization of food and nutritional security, as well as the economic well-being of poor farmers, through sustainable and more productive maize farming systems.”

New Publications: Better post-harvest storage can raise vitamin A intake 25 percent in Zambia

Written by on July 13, 2017. Posted in Publications.

Provitamin A-enriched orange maize in Zambia. Photo: CIMMYT

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Maize nutritionally enhanced with vitamin A can bring significant health benefits to deficient populations, but recent modeling studies in Zambia suggest that its impact is being cut short by the low retention of provitamin A carotenoids – a naturally occurring plant pigment also found in many orange foods that the body then converts into vitamin A – during storage and postharvest grain loss.

Up to 30 percent of grain is lost in African countries when maize is stored using common storage methods, such as artisanal silos or woven bags, due mostly to insect, rodent or fungi infestations and accumulation of poisonous chemical compounds called mycotoxins, which are produced by certain fungi.

A recent study evaluated the impact of carotenoid retention in orange maize using different storage methods to assess the most efficient way to store grain without losing vitamin A carotenoids. The researchers specifically evaluated how hammer and breakfast meal – the two most widely consumed grains in Zambia – age in metal silos, multilayer polyethylene and common woven bags, as well as single and multilayer polyethylene bags.

The researchers found significant differences between grain storage methods after 6 months of storage. Across all methods, hammer meal retained more carotenoid than breakfast meal after 4 months, though there was no difference in provitamin A carotenoid loss when using single and multilayer polyethylene bags.

Potential contribution of stored orange maize to the estimated average provitamin A requirement of children and women was around 25 percent – 26.5 and 24.3 percent for children and women, respectively – suggesting that orange maize meal can provide significant amounts of provitamin A to Zambian diets, even after 4 months of storage.

Read the full study “Carotenoid retention in biofortified maize using different post-harvest storage and packaging methods” and check out other recent publications from CIMMYT staff below.

Economic benefits of climate-smart agricultural practices to smallholder farmers in the Indo-Gangetic Plains of India. 2016. Khatri-Chhetri, A., Aryal, J.P., Sapkota, T.B., Khurana, R. In: Current Science, v. 110, no. 7, p. 1251-1256.
Effect of different mulching materials on maize growth and yield in conservation agriculture systems of sub-humid Zimbabwe. 2016. Mupangwa, W., Nyagumbo, I., Mutsamba, E.F. In: AIMS agriculture and food, v. 1, no. 1, p. 239-253.
Effect of in situ moisture conservation practices on environmental, energetics and economic comparisons on maize + blackgram cropping system in dryland ecosystem. 2016. Jat, M.L., Balyan, J.K., Shalander Kumar, Dadhich, S.K. In: Annals of biology, v. 32, no. 2, p. 158-163.
Effect of long-term tillage and diversified crop rotations on nutrient uptake, profitability and energetics of maize (Zea mays) in north-western India. 2016. Yadav, M.R., Parihar, C.M., Jat, S.L., Singh, A.K., Kumar, D., Pooniya, V., Parihar M.D., Saveipune, D., Parmar, H., Jat, M.L. In: Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences, v. 86, no. 6, p. 743-749.
Effectiveness and economics of hermetic bags for maize storage: results of a randomized controlled trial in Kenya. 2016. Ndegwa, M.K., De Groote, H., Gitonga, Z., Bruce, A.Y. In: Crop Protection, v. 90, p. 17-26.
Carotenoid retention in biofortified maize using different post-harvest storage and packaging methods. 2017. Taleon, V., Mugode, L., Cabrera-Soto, L., Palacios-Rojas, N. In: Food chemistry, v. 232, p. 60-66.
Characteristics of maize cultivars in Africa: How modern are they and how many do smallholder farmers grow? 2017. Tsedeke Abate, Fisher, M., Abdoulaye, T., Kassie, G., Lunduka, R., Marenya, P., Asnake, W. In: Agriculture and food security, v. 6, no. 30.
CIMMYT Series on carbohydrates, wheat, grains, and health: carbohydrates, grains, and whole grains and disease prevention. Part IV. Cancer risk: lung, prostate, and stomach. 2017. Jones, J.M., Peña-Bautista, R.J., Korczack, R., Braun, H.J. In: Cereal Foods World, v. 62, no. 1, p. 12-22.
CIMMYT Series on carbohydrates, wheat, grains, and health: carbohydrates and vitamins from grains and their relationships to mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease. 2017. Jones, J.M., Korczack, R., Peña-Bautista, R.J., Braun, H.J. In: Cereal Foods World, v. 62, no. 2, p. 65-75.
Crossfire: ‘Private sector engagement in smallholder value chains’. 2017. Belt, J., Hellin, J. In: Practical Action Publishing, v. 28, no. 1-2.

Zimbabwe steps up food security with vitamin A maize

Written by on July 12, 2017. Posted in News.

Mary Sikirwayi of Murewa District in Zimbabwe showing her orange maize cobs in the field. Photo: R. Lunduka/CIMMYT.

HARARE, Zimbabwe (CIMMYT) – More farmers in Zimbabwe are demanding high-yielding, highly nutritious and drought tolerant provitamin A maize.

In Zimbabwe, nearly one in every five children under the age of five years are vitamin A deficient. These deficiencies can lead to lower IQ, stunting and blindness in children, and increased susceptibility to disease across all ages. While vitamin A is available from a variety of sources, such as fruit, green leafy vegetables and animal products, these are often too expensive or unavailable to the more than 10 million people living in Zimbabwe’s rural areas.

Zimbabwe’s ZS242 – an orange provitamin A maize variety released on the market by the government in October 2015 – is particularly popular with farmers due to its nice aroma and good taste. Consuming foods made from orange maize, which is rich in beta-carotene, can provide maize-dependent populations with up to half their daily vitamin A needs, according to HarvestPlus.

Orange vitamin A maize has been conventionally bred to provide higher levels of provitamin A carotenoids, a naturally occurring plant pigment also found in many orange foods such as mangoes, carrots and pumpkins, that the body then converts into vitamin A.

These varieties are also high-yielding, disease resistant and drought tolerant, presenting an opportunity for farmers to not only increase yields but also enhance the availability of vitamins and minerals for people whose diets are dominated by micronutrient-poor staple food crops.

Mary Sikirwayi, a farmer from Murewa District, Zimbabwe, bought provitamin orange maize seed during a seed fair organized by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), in collaboration with the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation.

The maize grew and matured so fast that by the time her family wanted to try the fresh cobs for cooking and roasting, they had already started to dry. After harvesting the grain, she decided to make sadza, a porridge-like staple food consumed in Zimbabwe. When her family ate the sadza, everyone was so excited about the good taste and flavor of the food.

In addition to the good taste of the sadza from the provitamin A maize, Sikirwayi said the yield from the orange maize is more than five times higher than the national maize average yield. In the coming year, she plans to double the planted area of orange maize, due to its high demand both on the market and in her household.

CIMMYT and HarvestPlus have been working with Zimbabwe’s Department of Research and Specialist Services, Ministry of Health and Child Care, universities, seed companies, processors, retailers and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, to demonstrate the benefits of orange maize since 2012. The Zimbabwe government has expressed strong support for enriching the micronutrient content of plants and other crops, including maize.

Increased investment needed to adapt Africa’s agriculture to climate change

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

CIMMYT Director General, Martin Kropff delivers keynote address on “Climate smart resilient systems for Africa.” Photo: J. Siamachira/CIMMYT.

HARARE, Zimbabwe (CIMMYT) – Delegates at a conference in June called for a new focus and increase in investment to ensure eastern and southern Africa’s farming systems can withstand the impacts of climate change.

Africa is likely to be the continent most vulnerable to climate change, according to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Smallholders produce around 80 percent of all food in sub-Saharan Africa, and rely primarily on rainfall for irrigation – a source that is becoming scarcer and unpredictable under climate change. Farming is also often practiced in marginal areas like flood plains or hillsides, where increasing and more intense weather shocks cause severe damage to soil and crops.

Tanzania’s Minister for Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives Charles Tizeba said during a conference on the future of the Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Based Cropping Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) project, an initiative led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), that a paradigm shift in agricultural development is needed to enable smallholder farmers, especially those in rural areas, to produce enough to feed themselves and to sell.

Sustainable agricultural practices, improved seed varieties, use of fertilizers and better infrastructure are all technologies and practices that have been successfully tested by SIMLESA and have the potential to be expanded across the region, said Tizeba. He also called on governments in eastern and southern Africa to develop agricultural agendas based on farmer needs and opportunities SIMLESA identified through the project’s research efforts.

Over 100 people representing different governments, research institutions, development agencies and the private sector gathered in Tanzania to participate in the taking stock on sustainable intensification research for impact in eastern and southern Africa conference. Since 2010, SIMLESA has successfully tested locally-adapted sustainable farming systems throughout eastern and southern Africa. The project began its second phase in July 2014 and will focus on expanding climate-resilient technologies and practices throughout the region.

Delegates of the SIMLESA Sustainable Intensification Conference in Arusha, Tanzania. Photo: J. Siamachira/CIMMYT

To date, a total of 268 and 378 maize and legume on-farm participatory variety selections were conducted by SIMLESA, where best performing maize and legume varieties that met farmer preferences were selected and scaled up by partner seed companies. The project has influenced over 235,000 farmers who adopted at least one sustainable intensification technology or practice.

CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff called for the adoption of “climate-smart agriculture” that will make crops more resilient to continuing extreme weather events.

“For our farmers to be productive and ensure food security, we need to build resilience to climate change…we need to invest in new agricultural innovation now,” said Kropff.

Andrew Campbell, ACIAR chief executive officer, said climate change has already had a powerful negative effect on agriculture and food security for the world’s most vulnerable, and that these effects will become even worse in the future.

“It’s critical to integrate research into development initiatives,” said Campbell. “In this regard, SIMLESA’s work, in partnership with national agricultural research systems, becomes even more critical.”

At the project level, SIMLESA will aim to scale its sustainable intensification technologies to 650,000 farm households by 2023 in eight target countries through different partnership arrangements.

Many of the speakers at last week’s event said smallholder farmers must be part of discussions on climate change and food security as they are often among those most touched by the impacts of climate change, and they play an integral role in global agriculture systems.

To achieve the best results, SIMLESA will channel its experiences and lessons learned since its inception in 2010 and scale out its work through shared analysis, common research questions and learning through the monitoring, evaluation and learning portfolio, communications and knowledge sharing and a lean project management structure.

SIMLESA’s positive assessment of conservation agriculture-based sustainable intensification in the region suggests that policies that strengthen national and local institutions, build infrastructure for sustainable farming, improve financial investment in agriculture and increase access for innovative private investors, play a key role in alleviating poverty and food insecurity in the region.

The Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Based Cropping Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) project was launched in 2010. Funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), SIMLESA aims to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farming communities in Africa through productive and sustainable maize–legume systems and risk management strategies that conserve natural resources. It is managed by CIMMYT and implemented by partners in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania.