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.

CIMMYT Participates in the Sixth African Green Revolution Forum

Written by on September 27, 2016. Posted in News.

Tsedeke Abate, project leader of Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa and CIMMYT Maize Seed Systems in Africa, raises a point during a session at AGRF. Photo: B. Wawa/CIMMYT — Tsedeke Abate (left), project leader of Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa and CIMMYT Maize Seed Systems in Africa, raises a point during a session at AGRF. Photo: B. Wawa/CIMMYT

NAIROBI, Kenya (CIMMYT) — The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) team led by Director General Martin Kropff joined 1700 delegates from around the globe who participated in the sixth African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) that brought together heads of state and government ministries, development partners, farmer organizations, private sector representatives, eminent thinkers, researchers, and finance and investment leaders.

Titled Seize the moment! Securing Africa’s rise through agricultural transformation, the forum focused on increasing investment in African smallholders to maximize the economic opportunities in Africa’s agricultural sector and bring about a much needed transformation.

The Sustainable Intensification of Maize and Legume Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) program, together with the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), hosted a side event focusing on SIMLESA’s work on sustainable intensification practices and its implications for policymakers. Over 30 participants took part in this event.

Martin Kropff taking part in the ‘big debate’ session at AGRF. Photo: B. Wawa/CIMMYT

After receiving a brief from John Dixon, principal adviser for research at ACIAR, SIMLESA project leader Mulugetta Mekuria and a host of other presenters and participants agreed that the challenge of rising population and dwindling land resources makes farming system production practices, such as sustainable agricultural practices that help reduce environmental risks to crop production, a viable option for African farmers.

Mekuria singled out successes of SIMLESA that show that farmers’ food production, profitability and livelihoods as well as family nutrition have improved as a result of the diversity of food crops grown in these farming systems. He called on governments, policymakers and the private sector to institutionalize and include sustainable agricultural intensification in national agricultural development policy to achieve the much needed agricultural transformation.

Mulugetta Mekuria, project leader of SIMLESA, makes a presentation focusing on SIMLESA’s work. Photo: B. Wawa/CIMMYT

A session that focused on harnessing Africa’s potential to create competitive grain value chains benefited from the participation of Tsedeke Abate, project leader of Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa and CIMMYT Maize Seed Systems in Africa. He noted that, despite the availability of improved maize varieties in Africa, 49 percent of maize varieties planted by smallholders are obsolete, yet remain popular in Africa’s seed value chain. Abate emphasized the importance of replacing these with new, improved stress tolerant maize varieties to strengthen smallholders’ food systems.

“Solutions for Africa’s problems are within farmers’ reach. It is therefore important for governments and the private sector to implement holistic workable models that will favor smallholders, like availability of improved varieties, inputs and resources, fertilizers, technology, support programs, sufficient extension to farmers,” said Abate.

Another session on the best way to achieve agricultural transformation featured Kropff alongside former President of the Republic of Tanzania, Jakaya Kikwete; Svein Tore Holsether, President and CEO of YARA; Joseph DeVries, Chief of Agricultural Transformation at AGRA; and Sheila Sisulu, Former Deputy Director of WFP and Africa Food Prize Committee member.

B.M. Prasanna, Martin Kropff and Stephen Mugo brief Beth Dunford, assistant to the administrator of USAID’s Bureau for Food Security, on CIMMYT’s work at a KALRO/USAID event during AGRF. Photo: B. Wawa/CIMMYT — B.M. Prasanna, Martin Kropff and Stephen Mugo brief Beth Dunford, assistant to the administrator of USAID’s Bureau for Food Security (2nd from left), on CIMMYT’s work at a KALRO/USAID event during AGRF. Photo: B. Wawa/CIMMYT

Kropff explained that the key to unlocking smallholders’ potential is to enable them to access improved varieties, innovative technology and mechanization that will save farmers’ time and boost their capacity to maximize production and reduce food waste, which is rampant in Africa. “As the region faces increasing challenges from climate change, rapidly growing urban populations, and an urgent need for jobs, agriculture offers solutions, providing a clear path to food and nutritional security and employment opportunities for all Africans,” Kropff noted.

With the right policies and investments in place, lives of hundreds of millions of smallholder farmers could be transformed, putting all African countries on the path to sustainable agricultural transformation, concluded Kropff.

Emphasized throughout the forum was the challenge of building on available opportunities to secure investments that will improve lives of smallholders. The good news is that AGRF culminated with commitments of over USD 30 billion to transform African agriculture.

New generation of hunger fighters needed, says Julie Borlaug at CIMMYT 50th anniversary

Written by on September 26, 2016. Posted in News.

Julie Borlaug (R) stands with her mother, Jeannie Laube Borlaug, beside a statue of her grandfather Norman Borlaug at the Mexico headquarters of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in El Batan. CIMMYT/Marcelo Ortiz

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Encouraging youth willing to become “hunger fighters” to take up the challenges of farming despite erratic weather caused by climate change, drought, dwindling water supplies and nutrient-depleted soil, is key to future food security, said Julie Borlaug, associate director for external relations at the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture at Texas A&M University.

These hunger fighters must embrace technological innovation, creativity, bold ideas and collaborate across all disciplines, while also effectively engaging smallholder farmers and private and public sectors to come up with sustainable solutions, Borlaug said, adding that the average age of a farmer in the United States and Africa is well over 50 years.

Julie Borlaug, the granddaughter of 1970 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Norman Borlaug, a former key wheat breeder at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) known internationally as the father of the Green Revolution, will address delegates at the CIMMYT 50^th anniversary conference on September 27, 2016 with a speech titled, “CIMMYT’s future as a Borlaug legacy.”

After 50 years, CIMMYT remains relevant in the fight for food security and an important part of the Borlaug legacy, Borlaug said, adding that technological innovation is needed to address agriculture and the challenge of climate change.

“Since the seven years of his passing, I know my grandfather would be pleased by the leadership team and all at CIMMYT. As hunger fighters and the next generation, they have made CIMMYT their institution and continue to advocate strongly for improvement in science and technology to feed the world,” she said.

Her grandfather, who started work on wheat improvement in the mid-1940s in Mexico, where CIMMYT is headquartered near Mexico City, led efforts to develop semi-dwarf wheat varieties in the mid-20th century that helped save more than 1 billion lives in Pakistan, India and other areas of the developing world. In his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Norman Borlaug paid tribute to the “army of hunger fighters” with whom he had worked.

Borlaug shared some views on CIMMYT and the future of agriculture in the following interview.

Q: What are the key challenges the world faces into the future?

In my opinion, the entire agricultural community should focus on addressing three major challenges: the first is climate change and erratic weather patterns. Droughts and a decline of limited natural resources such as water and soil are of major consequence to agricultural productivity. The second major challenge is the societal resistance to new technologies and innovation. And the third major challenge we are facing is how to engage the next generation to work in the agricultural sector.

To address the first challenge, we must have biotechnology and technological innovation across the board to address issues that will stem from climate change. The utilization of drought, heat and saline tolerant crops, informatics, and other innovations will be a necessity. Technology will be part of the integrated solution that creates better farming systems, more nutritious foods and addresses all the issues that come with climate change and sustainability.

It is important to understand the societal resistance to new technologies and innovation. I understand their skepticisms and confusion. It is important to note that when speaking to these critics, we keep in mind the campaigns that have been mounted against our industry and have spread fear and inaccurate information that the public has accepted as fact. In my opinion, the agricultural industry has to improve in explaining to the public why modern agriculture is so important to our future and why the opposition to it cannot be permitted to deprive millions of people of its promise.

Q: What is significant about CIMMYT: What role has CIMMYT played in your area of work?

CIMMYT is both personally and professionally significant to me. Personally, I have grown up knowing how deeply invested, protective and grateful my grandfather was to the role CIMMYT played in his career, the Green Revolution and as a leader in international maize and wheat research. CIMMYT was not just a place in which my grandfather was employed but part of his family. All who met, worked with my grandfather or had the opportunity to have an early morning CIMMYT breakfast with him, remember the deep interest he had in their careers and research as well as his often too candid assessment of their current & future work. His passion for CIMMYT never faded and in the end of his life his return “home” to his Yaqui Valley wheat fields in Sonora, Mexico, gave him hope for the future of CIMMYT, the CGIAR system as a whole and international research and development in agriculture.

Professionally for me, CIMMYT has helped me learn more about my grandfather professionally but it has also broadened my depth and knowledge of maize and wheat research as well as the importance for the CG system. At the Borlaug Institute at Texas A&M, we work in international agriculture development and have had the opportunity to partner with CIMMYT on many occasions. I promised my grandfather that I would help to bring all the Borlaug Legacy Institutions together to work collaboratively and not competitively as we once had. CIMMYT was the first Borlaug legacy institution to join us in working collectively towards my grandfather legacy to end hunger and poverty.

Celebrating 50 years of collaboration: CIMMYT in the Mexican senate

Written by on September 23, 2016. Posted in Features.

Mexico City, Mexico (CIMMYT) — In recognition of the contributions the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center has made to agriculture and food security in Mexico and the world, a symposium was held 13^th September at the Mexican Senate. Organized by the senate’s commission on agriculture and livestock, the symposium “50 years of CIMMYT in the Senate,” marked five decades of invaluable collaboration between the Center and the Mexican government.

CIMMYT was founded in Mexico in 1966 with the aim of improving food and nutritional security around the world. In the past 50 years, the agricultural research breakthroughs made by the Center and its scientists have produced nutritious and stress tolerant maize and wheat that has improved the lives and livelihoods of smallholder farmers and consumers around the world. None of these achievements would have been possible without the support of the Mexican Government, beginning with former president Adolfo Lopez Mateos’ support of the fledgling Center upon its founding and extending into the present day with cutting edge projects working to bring novel solutions to the challenges faced by Mexican agriculture.

“We are here today celebrating our 50th anniversary thanks to the leadership, vision and support of the Mexican people and their government that have allowed us to make this beautiful country our home,” said Martin Kropff, Director General of CIMMYT.

CIMMYT’s work has had incredible impact on the society and economies of Mexico and the world. “Around 50 percent of modern maize and wheat varieties planted around the world are descended from lines developed by CIMMYT,” Kropff announced. “Each year, these varieties generate between three and four billion dollars in profits for the farmers that grow them around the world.”

Kropff also recognized the important role that the Mexican government and other CIMMYT partners and allies, especially Mexico’s National Forestry, Agricultural and Livestock Research Institute (INIFAP), have played in this success. Fernando Flores Lui, Director General of INIFAP, referred to CIMMYT as a “pillar in the development of improved maize and wheat for the world,” and that their collaboration with the Center constitutes a “new model of collaboration based on equity and mutual support.”

In his welcome address to the symposium, Senator Manuel Cota Jiménez, president of the Mexican senate’s commission on agriculture and livestock, recognized the longstanding collaboration between CIMMYT and the Mexican government. “CIMMYT 50 marks a year for celebration, but also a year of challenges. CIMMYT has long worked to overcome the greatest challenges of agriculture in Mexico, it is our duty to continue working to ensure that our laws and public policies are in line with our goals for Mexican farmers and agriculture,” he said. “The countryside cannot remain isolated from science.”

One of the most fruitful examples of the success of this collaboration and partnership between CIMMYT and the Mexican government is the Sustainable Modernization of the Traditional Agriculture (MasAgro) project. A joint initiative of CIMMYT and Mexico’s Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA), MasAgro has developed 11 improved wheat varieties and over 40 improved maize varieties for the benefit of Mexican farmers.

In his keynote address, Bram Govaerts, director of MasAgro and CIMMYT’s regional representative in Latin America, presented on the project’s achievements over the past six years. A study from the University of Chapingo has shown that technicians who participate in the MasAgro project are nine times more efficient in their technical support to farmers than technicians who do not participate in the project. For the same amount of money invested, technicians using the MasAgro model reach nine times more farmers.

Govaerts also emphasized the importance of focusing on and supporting farmers in all components of agriculture to achieve the best results. “Planting improved seeds without agronomy is like trying to drive a racecar down a dirt road,” he said.

This support of the Mexican government will be equally crucial in the next 50 years if CIMMYT is to continue in its mission of improving food security and farmer livelihoods across the world. The relationship of collaboration and partnership between CIMMYT and the Mexican senate was strengthened and renewed through the open dialogue of the symposium, paving the way to implement the solutions necessary to ensure that improved maize and wheat varieties will be available not only to improve the lives and livelihoods of Mexican farmers, but to protect smallholder farmers and food security around the world.

“We still have so much left to accomplish, and that is why it is so important that we can count on the support of the legislators present today to maintain the budget for agricultural research and development,” Kropff said in his keynote address. “That is the objective of this symposium—to find solutions to the problems we face today and overcome them to achieve a food secure future for the Mexican people.”

The symposium was followed by a round table on maize and wheat improvement, agronomy and extension services held at the historic Casona de Xicoténcatl, the former headquarters of the Mexican senate. Over 30 researchers from CIMMYT and INIFAP participated in the event, as well as various representatives from different sectors of maize and wheat value chains in Mexico.

CIMMYT was honored by the attendance of Sanjaya Rajaram, 2014 World Food Prize laureate and keynote speaker at the symposium, and other distinguished guests including members of the Mexican senate’s commission on agriculture and livestock, senators María Hilaria Domínguez Arvizu, Silvia Garza Galván, Salvador López Brito and Adolfo Romero Lainas, as well as Patricia Ornelas Ruiz, director of the agrifood and fisheries information service (SIAP). The rectors of several Mexican agricultural universities also participated in the symposium, including Jesús Moncada de la Fuente of the Colegio de Posgraduados, Sergio Barrales Domínguez of the University of Chapingo and Jesús Valenzuela García of the Universidad Autónoma Agraria Antonio Narro. Representatives of various farmer groups and Mexican seed companies were also in attendance.

CIMMYT museum highlights cultural aspects of maize and wheat

Written by on September 21, 2016. Posted in News.

TEXCOCO, Mexico (CIMMYT) – A new museum in Mexico provides historical background and context for scientific research into maize and wheat, emphasizing agricultural achievements in the developing world.

The inaugural exhibition at the museum opened on Wednesday to coincide with the 50^th anniversary celebrations of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

“The interactive displays in this vibrant and informative space underscore the significance of 50 years of maize and wheat research conducted throughout the world,” said Martin Kropff, CIMMYT director general. “We now have a space at CIMMYT that allows visitors to dig into the history, present and future of the center in an innovative way.”

CIMMYT has helped reduce the proportion of hungry people from about half the global population in the 1960s to below 20 percent today. Yearly economic benefits from its research and training activities, conducted on a budget of $180 million, are conservatively estimated at $4 billion.

The 200-square-meter (2,150-square-foot) museum is based at CIMMYT’s El Batan headquarters, promoting the work of CIMMYT’s scientific research and focusing on achievements and on the ground impacts in the world and raising awareness of future challenges. It features information and displays about staff achievements, including those of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Norman Borlaug. Scientists working at CIMMYT have been honored with the Nobel Peace Prize, three World Food Prizes and many other significant awards.

The museum represents a bridge between two of CIMMYT’s director generals, with former Director General Thomas Lumpkin spearheading the initiative and Kropff carrying out and completing this vision during the ceremony today.

Visitors to the museum can explore the cultural and historical significance of maize and wheat.

“The museum engages visitors in the cultural aspects of research that can amplify understanding of its socio-cultural impact and generate dialogue,” said Richard Fulss, head of CIMMYT’s knowledge management unit in charge of the museum. “It expresses CIMMYT’s scientific developments in new ways, illustrating it in various themes and topics showcasing its global scope and impacts.”

Interactive illustrations of maize and wheat portray origins, historical influence on emerging nations and how the crops are consumed in different parts of the world.

Of key importance to the museum will be how staple maize and wheat crops have evolved over time, including the role of tools and technology, work in the research labs and the diversity of seeds kept by CIMMYT.

A Chat With: DuPont Pioneer president points to technology to boost yields

Written by on September 21, 2016. Posted in News.

New innovations will improve farming productivity said DuPont Pioneer President Schickler. Photo: CIMMYT/ Peter Lowe — New innovations will improve farming productivity said DuPont Pioneer President Paul Schickler. Photo: CIMMYT/ Peter Lowe

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Data and predictive analytics can help seeds reach their full yield by providing farmers with information and management advice, said DuPont Pioneer President Paul Schickler.

Although seed varieties possess greater genetic potential than ever before, farmers are failing to achieve maximum yield because they lack the knowledge to farm certain varieties of maize and wheat in certain locations, said Schickler who will speak at a conference to mark the 50^th anniversary of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) next week.

To help farmers bridge this gap, Schickler said DuPont Pioneer has abandoned learning best practices from field trials and now uses data modelling. Simulating combinations of seeds and unique farming practices enables smoother delivery of better information and management advice, he said.

Targeted genome editing using engineered nucleases innovations, such as Clustered, Regularly Interspaced, Short Palindromic Repeat (CRISPR) technology, are also driving DuPont Pioneer’s seed development to improve the productivity of climate- and disease-resistant crops, said Schickler.

He will deliver a talk during a session titled, “The critical role of innovation in agriculture” on Sept. 28 at the CIMMYT 50^th anniversary conference which will be held from Sept. 27 to 29, 2016 in Mexico City.

He shared some views on agricultural innovation in the following interview.

Q: What is significant about CIMMYT?

There’s no denying it – we have all benefitted from CIMMYT’s scientific research and heart for innovation. Since its beginnings, CIMMYT has played a revolutionary role in global agriculture — fostering maize and wheat productivity while improving rural livelihoods and boosting farmer productivity. And, they have excelled at bringing a collaborative focus to agriculture.

As I reflect on the past 50 years of CIMMYT, I also think of one of the world’s great humanitarians and innovators – former Global Wheat Program director and Nobel laureate Noman Borlaug. Through science, he has been credited with saving 1 billion people from starvation.

At DuPont Pioneer, we have a strong appreciation for the contributions of Borlaug and CIMMYT. We have collaborated throughout its 50-year history and we look forward to 50 more.

Q: How does your area of specialization address challenges facing agriculture?

At DuPont Pioneer, we develop and supply advanced plant genetics and services to farmers to increase agricultural production and feed a growing world population. We collaborate with farmers and organizations, including CIMMYT, in more than 90 countries to apply the best of global science to develop uniquely local solutions. One thing has become abundantly clear – we can only help farmers be successful when we recognize their right to choose the best seeds, agronomic practices and tools for their operations. The “right” practices for farmers differ by geography, environment, market situation and more.

As president of DuPont Pioneer, I am immersed in issues pertaining to farmer and agricultural productivity, food and nutrition security, scientific research, product innovation and sustainability. Together with organizations like CIMMYT, we are making advancements in these areas while promoting community development and national security. Efforts to increase global food security may also support a decrease in civil unrest.

Q: What innovation do you see improving agriculture?

Innovation will continue to be critical on a global scale as we consider increasing yields and food production under the constraints of limited arable land, shrinking natural resources, and a growing population. To make sure enough healthy food is available, farmers need seeds that can thrive and are safe for people and the environment.

Every year, seed companies develop products with greater and greater genetic potential. But most customers fail to achieve the maximum yield potential of the seeds they plant. We need to help farmers bridge the gap between a product’s potential yield and its “real-world,” harvestable yield.

CIMMYT celebrates 50 in eastern and central Africa

Written by on September 20, 2016. Posted in News.

NAIROBI, Kenya (CIMMYT) — The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) held its eastern and central Africa 50^th anniversary celebrations on 9 – 10 September, 2016.

The event was hosted by CIMMYT’s regional office in Nairobi, Kenya, bringing together over 150 stakeholders, partners, dignitaries, donors and staff to take stock of achievements made in the region and lessons learned through five decades of partnership, with a focus on the future of maize and wheat research in the region.

CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff led the event and encouraged staff to share CIMMYT’s impact in eastern and central Africa and strategic vision the organization has adopted for the future. Guests also had an opportunity to view CIMMYT and partner activities in the three major research sites in Kenya and give feedback on CIMMYT’s work.

Seed companies, national agricultural research organizations and long-serving CIMMYT staff were presented awards recognizing the long and fruitful collaboration between them and CIMMYT. A tree was planted in honor of the late Wilfred Mwangi, who was CIMMYT’s Regional Liaison Officer in Africa.

Check out the full photo story of CIMMYT’s eastern and central Africa celebrations here.

European Space Agency selects CIMMYT to pilot new remote sensing project

Written by on September 8, 2016. Posted in News.

Signing ceremony (L-R) with Pierre Defourny, Urs Schulthess, Kai Sonder, Bruno Gérard and Francelino Rodrigues giving CIMMYT access to the pilot version of the Sen2-Agri processing system and receive training on its use. Photo: Liliana Díaz Ramírez

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) has been selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) to have access to the pilot version of the Sen2-Agri processing system and receive training on its use.

As an ESA “champion user,” CIMMYT will test the ESA prototype system in Bangladesh and Mexico. These two sites cover a wide range of farming systems, from the large wheat fields of the Yaqui Valley to a more diverse system in Bangladesh, where parcel sizes can be as small as 0.05 hectares and farmers grow two to three crops per year on a single field.

“The great unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) expertise acquired by CIMMYT is very complementary to the full exploitation of the new satellite generation capabilities,” says Pierre Defourny, professor at the Université catholique de Louvain in Belgium who is leading the Sen2-Agri project. “CIMMYT’s two cases will generate products that will support our joint efforts for wheat blast monitoring in Bangladesh and improve data availability for GreenSat in Mexico.”

In the early days of remote sensing, limited availability of data was a major constraint for putting the data to good use. Basic processing of the coarse data was also time consuming and tedious.

Fortunately, this has greatly changed in recent years. Open and free satellite data, such as Landsat 8 and Sentinel 1 & 2, allow for almost weekly coverages at resolutions as fine as 10 meters. Thanks to this new speed and precision, users can now focus on applying the data, deriving information products even for small holder farmers in remote areas.

The Sentinel 2 satellites have a swath width of 290 km. Sentinel-2A is already operational, while Sentinel-2B will be launched in the spring of 2018. Together, they will be able to cover the Earth every 5 days.

For example, the CIMMYT-led STARS project in Bangladesh developed an irrigation scheduling app called PANI, which uses remotely sensed data to estimate crop water use. From this data the farmer receives a simple text message on their cell phone that gives recommendations as to whether a particular field needs to be irrigated or not.

Sen2-Agri is unique compared to other systems in that it simplifies and automates satellite data processing. The system allows for semi-automated generation of products, such as cropland detection, crop classification, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and leaf area index (LAI) based on images taken periodically by satellites Sentinel-2 and Landsat 8.

A signing ceremony was held on 15 August, 2016 to seal the cooperation between ESA and CIMMYT. Bruno Gérard, Director of CIMMYT’s Sustainable Intensification Program, sees this agreement as a fundamental game changer for CIMMYT’s geo-spatial work.

“Sen2-Agri will give CIMMYT access to high spatial and temporal resolution quality imagery and related ‘know-how,’ which in turn will enable us to further develop partnership with top-notch institutions in the earth observation field,” says Gérard.

Interface of the Sen2-Agri system, which allows for a semi-automated generation of cropland, crop type, LAI and NDVI maps.

The benefits of the Sen2-Agri are likely to far extend beyond the Yaqui Valley and Bangladesh. After the pilot phase of this project, the high-resolution imagery gathered could be applied to other areas CIMMYT projects are implemented.

In combination with bio-physical and socio-economic data, this will allow CIMMYT and other organizations to improve monitoring and evaluation, better assess and understand changes and shocks in crop-based farming systems and improve technology targeting across farmer communities.

The Sen2-Agri test program is being coordinated by Urs Schulthess. Please feel free to contact him at u.schulthess@cgiar.org if you have questions about or suggestions for future applications of the system.

Young African scientists gain inspiration from experienced maize researchers

Written by on September 6, 2016. Posted in Features.

CIMMYT team and scientists from the Africa Plant Breeding Academy. Credit: CIMMYT

NAIROBI, Kenya (CIMMYT) – “The focus of the CIMMYT Global Maize Program includes elements that are key to many breeding programs in Africa. It has made important strides in sub-Saharan Africa.”

These words were delivered by Rita Mumm, a member of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) board of trustees and the coordinator of the Africa Plant Breeding Academy (AfPBA), which recently benefited from a wealth of knowledge shared by the CIMMYT Global Maize Program (GMP) team in Africa at the AfPBA training program held in June 2016 at the World Agroforestry Center.

The AfPBA is an initiative of the African Orphan Crop Consortium, a partnership of public and private organizations working together to sequence 101 crops of economic and nutritional importance to Africa. Students at AfPBA undergo a 13-month continuing education program delivered in three two-week sessions to learn about principles of plant breeding to enable use of advanced tools and technologies in breeding of crops relevant for Africa.

The CIMMYT team led by B.M Prasanna, director of CGIAR Research Program MAIZE and CIMMYT-GMP interacted with the trainees of the most recent session of the academy. The session was attended by 29 Ph.D. and master’s level scientists – including seven women – from 17 countries across Africa. The focus of the interactive session was to share knowledge on maize breeding work in sub-Saharan Africa and highlight the progress made in addressing various biotic and abiotic stresses affecting smallholders’ maize productivity in Africa.

The scientists learned about maize breeding work to develop improved maize varieties with farmer-preferred traits. In particular, drought tolerance, nitrogen-use efficiency, nutritional enhancement, and disease resistance. In addition, presentation focused on the use of such modern technologies to increase efficiency and enhance genetic gains in tropical maize as molecular marker-assisted breeding and doubled haploid technology for maize improvement.

Students from the Africa Plant Breeding Academy during a visit at the MLN screening facility in Naivasha, Kenya. Credit: CIMMYT

Collaborative efforts to strengthen the maize seed system for African farmers to access the improved new varieties was explained, as was the progress made with partners to increase farmer adoption as well as to replace the old varieties with the new climate resilient maize varieties.

“This is just one example of CIMMYT’s capacity development efforts that gives tremendous satisfaction. These breeding stories and highlights from Africa could have potential positive impact on the young scientists, as they are the key to further developing and deploying products that can make a difference in the livelihoods of the resource-poor smallholders in Africa,” said Prasanna.

The highlight of the training for many of the participants was the tour to the Maize Lethal Necrosis (MLN) Screening Facility at Naivasha established jointly by CIMMYT and the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (KALRO) to screen germplasm against MLN (under artificial inoculation), including germplasm from several private and public institutions. The participants received hands-on training to identify symptoms of MLN-causing viruses and how to score MLN disease severity by screening germplasm at the site. In addition, a demonstration was conducted on screening for MLN through artificial inoculation.

“Our global and regional mandate gives us the opportunity to support scientists across Africa to build their capacity in plant breeding work as well as in socioeconomics and sustainable intensification practices. Scienstists get the opportunity to learn, share their experiences and grow further. Through such trainings, we see improvements in technology uptake and use in various countries and regions across Africa,” said Stephen Mugo, CIMMYT regional representative for Africa.

In addition to the CIMMYT team, instructors included Lago Hale from the University of New Hampshire, Bruce Walsh from the University of Arizona, Allen Van Deynze from the University of California–Davis, and Rita Mumm from the University of Illinois.

A Chat With: IPNI Director Shamie Zingore — boosting smallholder agriculture in Africa

Written by on September 4, 2016. Posted in News.

IPNI sub-Saharan Director Shamie Zingore — IPNI sub-Sahara Africa Director Shamie Zingore

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Effective partnerships involving research, public and private sector institutions are key to unlocking the potential of smallholder agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa, said Shamie Zingore, a director at the International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI), who oversees the region.

Cross-sector partnerships that deliver the results of agricultural research to smallholder farmers, who produce 80 percent of food consumed in the developing world, improve productivity and are essential to providing food security in Africa, said Zingore who will speak at a conference to mark the 50th anniversary of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in September.

IPNI is a non-for-profit, science-based organization dedicated to the responsible management of plant nutrition.

Zingore said partnerships that bring together national governments, agricultural research institutes and industry underpin his organizations’ work to support sustainable crop production intensification in the region.

IPNI’s cross-sector efforts to encourage fertilizer use within integrated soil fertility management (ISFM), which involves the use of locally adapted agricultural practices that can maximize the efficiency of nutrient and water use and improve agricultural productivity, shows the power of partnership combined with the development and dissemination of technologies that have increased yields and protected soil fertility, he said. The role of the private sector in addressing challenges that smallholder farmers face in accessing inputs at affordable prices and the knowledge for their appropriate use must be encouraged, he added.

Zingore will participate in a panel discussion during a session titled “Technical Innovations into Context to Achieve Greater Impact” at the CIMMYT 50^th anniversary conference which will be held from Sept. 27 to Sept. 29 in Mexico City.

He shared some views on the future of agriculture in the following interview.

Q: What do you hope to contribute to the CIMMYT conference?

The theme of the conference is relevant and timely in the context of the increasingly urgent need to translate agricultural science into practice to support agricultural development and poverty alleviation in the developing world. I’m honored to participate at the conference to share knowledge and insights on the critical role of soil fertility management research in sustainable crop production intensification in sub-Saharan Africa — as well as the processes to achieve impact by adapting agronomic technologies to highly variable and complex conditions on smallholder farms. Effective partnerships between research, public and private sector institutions will be the key to unlock the potential of smallholder agriculture. Representing IPNI, as a fertilizer industry science-based research organization, I also hope to highlight the role of the private sector in addressing the challenges that smallholder farmers face in accessing inputs at affordable prices and the knowledge for their appropriate use.

Q: What is significant about CIMMYT? What role has CIMMYT played in your area of work?

CIMMYT has for many decades conducted innovative and transformational research to improve maize and wheat productivity through the plant breeding, agronomy, farming systems and conservation agriculture and socioeconomic programs. My institution has effectively collaborated with CIMMYT in several initiatives including the CGIAR program on MAIZE and Taking Maize Agronomy to Scale (TAMASA) initiative that have supported wide-scale dissemination of site-specific nutrient management in both conventional and conservation agriculture maize production systems. CIMMYT has played a key role in building effective research and extension partnerships and capacity for delivering agronomic solutions to smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Q: What are the key challenges the world faces into the future?

The overarching challenge is the question of how agricultural productivity can be increased to meet the food requirements by a rapidly increasing world population that will reach over 7 billion by 2050. Developing countries that are food insecure, including those in sub-Saharan Africa, will contribute most to the increasing population. Technological innovations will need to be increasingly robust to sustainably increase crop productivity and nutrient quality of food produced in the face of land degradation and climate change challenges.

Q: How does your area of specialization address these challenges?

Poor soil fertility, low fertilizer use and inappropriate fertilizer management practices are some of the key factors limiting crop productivity in sub-Saharan Africa. Yields have remained low despite advances made in developing high yielding crop varieties adapted to growing conditions in the region. Strong partnerships on developing ISFM are focusing on the development and dissemination of technologies that contribute not only to increased yields but also pay attention to maintenance of soil organic matter and soil fertility in the long-term. Our research results have shown that appropriate ISFM technologies enhance nutrient and water use efficiency, increasing crop productivity and resilience to moisture stress. We are addressing the issue of balanced nutrient management, with a focus on micronutrient fertilization, to increase productivity in vast agricultural soils that are deficient in micronutrients. Balanced fertilizer, focusing on the applying the right types of fertilizer at the right rate, time and place will be the basis of increasing yield in an economically viable manner and improving the nutrient contents of food produced by smallholder farmers.

TAMASA is a CIMMYT led project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Are cows the next development boom for smallholder farmers?

Written by on September 2, 2016. Posted in Blogs.

HARARE, Zimbabwe- Smallholder livestock farmers in Zimbabwe are beginning to flip every notion about the country’s industry on its head.

Dairy and beef livestock production play an important economic and nutritional role in the lives of many Zimbabwean farm households. However, rearing livestock has traditionally been expensive as livestock take a lot of space and suck up a lot of money for feed and maintenance, leaving poor farmers to rarely see a significant return on investment in these animals, let alone compete with larger livestock producers in the country.

Zimbabwe’s small-scale livestock producers face a wide range of challenges but key among these is the lack of adequate supplementary feed, particularly during the dry winter months when natural grazing pastures are dry. As a result, productivity of the animals is often very poor, and livestock producers miss out on the prospects of increasing their incomes from beef and dairy cattle production.

In addition, increasing human populations associated with expansion in arable land area continues to put pressure on pastures which continue to dwindle in both quality and area leading to insufficient grazing to sustain livestock throughout the year. Because of this and a decreasing natural resource base, farming systems are under greater pressure to provide sufficient food and to sustain farmers’ livelihoods.

In Zimbabwe’s sub-humid Mashonaland East Province, groups of innovative farmers, extension workers and experts in crop-livestock integration are making livestock sustainable and lucrative for more than 5,000 farmers who are now beginning to increase their profits – for some up to 70 percent – thanks to new efforts led by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in collaboration with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and other partners. This initiative seeks to integrate crops and livestock technologies with a major focus on food, feed and soil.

Joyce Chigama, working in her mucuna field, feeds her six livestock on legume diets. Her animals gained an average of nearly one kilogram (kg) per day for 60 days, allowing her to later sell five of these livestock for USD 3,000. Photo: Johnson Siamachira/CIMMYT.

Together, this consortium is working with the smallholder farmers to introduce forage legumes such as mucuna and lablab using conservation agriculture-based sustainable intensification practices.

With this approach, maize productivity for food security is improved through forage and pulse legume rotations under conservation agriculture while livestock benefit from feeding on increased biomass output and conserved supplementary feed prepared from the forage legumes.

Maintaining the availability of adequate feed for livestock is crucial to rural smallholders in Zimbabwe. Most smallholders could not afford to buy commercial supplements for their natural pastures, especially during the long dry winter season when livestock usually run short of feed. Also, they did not know how to produce cost-effective home-grown feeds. Thanks to this agribusiness, the farmers learned to improve on-farm fodder production.

Conservation agriculture is a cropping system based on the principles of reduced tillage, keeping crop residues retention on the soil surface, and diversification through rotation or intercropping maize with other crops. The immediate benefits of conservation agriculture are: labor and cost savings, improved soil structure and fertility, increased infiltration and water retention, less erosion and water run-off–thus contributing to adaptation to the negative effects of climate variability and change. Through improved management and use of conservation agriculture techniques maize yields were increased from the local average of 0.8 tons per hectare to over 2.5 tons per hectare depending on rainfall and initial soil fertility status.

Mucuna (also known as velvet bean), is well-adapted to the weather conditions in Zimbabwe and can grow with an annual rainfall of 300 mm over four to six months. Growing this cover crop is an agroecological practice that helps farmers address many problems such as poor access to inputs, soil erosion and vulnerability to climate change.

Ben Makono (left) has fed his cattle a legume-based diet and seen their selling price rise by an average of USD 200 per cow. Photo: Johnson Siamachira/CIMMYT.

In addition, mucuna’s high biomass yield also smothers weeds so farmers do not have to spend time weeding. Mucuna also improves soil by fixing up to 170 kilograms of nitrogen per hectare and producing up to 200 kilograms of nitrogen from its residues. Moreover, the biomass produced effectively controls wind and water erosion.

Under the conservation agriculture systems employed here, cattle are used for reduced tillage using an animal drawn direct seeder or rippers in the cereal-legume production systems. Cattle manure is also used for fertilization. In turn, cattle benefit from the system through fattening on home formulated mucuna-based diets and feeding on crop residues.

Since 2012, smallholder farmers have received training and technical assistance on improved agricultural and animal husbandry practices for animal breeding, animal health and nutrition, fodder production and herd management. For example, farmers have learned to prepare nutritious feed rations for their livestock using locally available resources such as molasses and maize residues. As a result of these newly acquired skills, farmers have been better able to adapt to the severe drought currently affecting much of southern Africa.

As part of strengthening the project’s multi-stakeholder platform, a workshop was recently held at CIMMYT’s southern Africa regional office in Harare, Zimbabwe. The meeting brought together 40 participants including farmers and personnel from non-governmental organizations, the government and the private sector. The workshop sought to further enhance crop-livestock integration through facilitating agribusiness deals between the private sector and farmers. Farmers clinched a contract farming agribusiness deal with Capstone Seed Company to supply lablab seed. This means farmers have a guaranteed market for their lablab seed.

Makera Cattle Company also offered opportunities to farmers to improve their cattle breeds through crossing their local breeds with pedigree bulls. They agreed to supply bulls as breeding stock to interested farmers on a loan scheme.

Theresa Gandazha is a smallholder dairy farmer whose first cow produced about 12 liters of milk per dayThe high cost of feed resulted in her barely breaking even when she sold the milk she produced. However, after adopting a legume-based diet for her cow, she has witnessed a dramatic increase in her income due to significantly reduced feed costs. The cow’s milk has increased its yield to 16 liters per day, earning Gandazha nearly USD 130 per month. Photo: Lovemore Gwiriri/ILRI — Theresa Gandazha is a smallholder dairy farmer whose first cow produced about 12 liters of milk per day. After adopting a legume-based diet for her cow, she has witnessed a dramatic increase in her income due to significantly reduced feed costs. The cow’s milk has increased its yield to 16 liters per day, earning Gandazha nearly $130 per month. Photo: Lovemore Gwiriri/ILRI

Thanks to the spread of the crop-livestock project, Zimbabwean farmers are now able to engage in new market opportunities and improve their incomes by increasing crop and livestock productivity at a sustainable, affordable rate.

By focusing on a commercial approach, the project is ensuring long-term sustainability of the dramatic income increases and other benefits that the farmers have already witnessed. Helping farmers improve their productivity and living standards is an important first step, but the project also has to make sure the farmers have access to reliable markets.

CIMMYT’s Integrating Crops and Livestock for Improved Food Security and Livelihoods in Rural Zimbabwe (ZimCLIFs) project is working with more than 5,000 smallholder farmers to introduce fodder production. ZimCLIFs is funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and implemented by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) as the lead agency, in collaboration with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Ecosystem Sciences, the University of Queensland, the Community Technology Development Organization (CTDO), the Cluster Agricultural Development Services (CADS) and the government of Zimbabwe. It seeks to strengthen potential synergies offered by crop-livestock integrated farming systems.

NuME: a key actor in agricultural innovation systems in Ethiopia

Written by on September 2, 2016. Posted in News.

A QPM field demonstration in East Wollega, Ethiopia, showing the performance of BHQPY545, a QPM variety with yellow grain. Photo: CIMMYT

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (CIMMYT) — The Nutritious Maize for Ethiopia (NuME) project was selected as a key actor in agricultural and rural innovation in Ethiopia by the Capacity Development for Agricultural Innovation Systems project (CDAIS).

Funded by the European Commission and implemented by AGRINATURA and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), CDAIS is a global partnership on capacity development for agricultural innovation systems (AIS), or collaborative arrangements that bring together several organizations working toward technological, managerial, organizational and institutional change in agriculture. CDAIS aims to make AIS more efficient and sustainable in meeting the demands of farmers, agri-business and consumers.

CDAIS identified NuME as one of the most successful projects in Ethiopia in its scoping study, largely based on its ability to demonstrate how multi-sectoral networks facilitate and speed-up the dissemination of quality protein maize (QPM) technologies and strengthen innovation. The QPM technology promoted is a biofortified type of maize with improved protein quality due to its enhanced amino acid profile that makes it more useful in human and animal nutrition.

QPM technology is a biofortified type of maize with improved protein quality due to its enhanced amino acid profile that makes it more useful in human and animal nutrition. Photo: CIMMYT

NuME is founded on a network of key implementing partners from Ethiopian research institutions, national agricultural research and extension systems, international non-governmental organizations, universities and public and private seed companies and is implemented in 36 woredas (districts) of the four major maize producing and consuming regions of Ethiopia. Such multi-sectoral networking of actors has proved to be one of the most important factors that can bring remarkably high rates of adoption of technologies bya large number of farmers in different countries.

All partners work together to ensure QPM spreads to as many farmers as possible. For example, Farm Radio International (FRI) collaborated with local radio stations, designing an appropriate multilingual participatory radio campaign on nutrition, protein and QPM benefits. Universities and Agricultural Technical and Vocational Education Training (ATVETs) produce agricultural experts with technical knowledge and skills in the field of QPM production and management. Meanwhile private sector seed companies produce and market QPM to meet the growing demand for the technology across the country.

The project has also brought the issue of QPM to the attention of policy makers and national agricultural development planners. As a result, Ethiopia’s Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources (MoANR) and the Agricultural Transformation Council have included QPM as a priority commodity in the national agricultural development plan. In 2014, MoANR set the target to increase the QPM production area to 200,000 ha within three years (2015-17), an area that is approximately 10 percent of the total land area devoted to maize production in the country.

Learn more about what makes NuME a success here.

NuME is funded by Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and implemented by CIMMYT-Ethiopia in collaboration with various stakeholders from agriculture, nutrition and health sectors. The project is designed to contribute to the reduction of malnutrition, especially among women and young children, and to increase food security for resource-poor smallholder farmers in Ethiopia through the widespread adoption, production and utilization of QPM varieties and crop management practices that increase farm productivity.

CIMMYT Maize hybrids ranked first and third in nation-wide trials in India

Written by on September 2, 2016. Posted in News.

Farmers and seed company personnel observing RCRMH-2 in an on-farm demonstration during the spring season in Gulbarga district of Karnataka, India. Photo: UAS, Raichur

RAICHUR, India (CIMMYT) — Two hybrids from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) developed under the Heat Tolerant Maize for Asia (HTMA) project were ranked first and third among over 100 hybrids during the 2015 All-India Coordinated Maize Program (AICMP) trials. The trials took place during the summer-rainy season (commonly known as the “Kharif” season) – the major maize growing season in South Asia – which covered about 70 percent of South Asia’s total maize area.

AICMP, managed by the Institute of Maize Research in New Delhi, is one of the largest maize variety testing networks in South Asia. New maize hybrids from both the public and private sector are evaluated in over 30 locations across India’s different ecologies.

The two hybrids RCRMH-1 and RCRMH-2 – were submitted by the University of Agriculture Sciences (UAS), Raichur, one of the key partners with CIMMYT in developing heat tolerant maize varieties in the region. The hybrids showed good performance by performing well across agro-ecologies, including stressed and un-stressed locations, competing well against both public and private sector varieties tested in the AICMP trials.

CIMMYT seeks to develop maize varieties that are tolerant to a range of stresses that South Asia experiences. For example, heat resilience is necessary in a region which experiences temperatures of over 40⁰C in the spring season, right when the crop needs to reproduce. The summer-rainy season in South Asia brings monsoon rains. However, in drought years (such as year 2015) the temperature may rise close to 40⁰C, and therefore maize crops face combined drought and heat stress. The selection strategy used by HTMA focuses on developing broad temperature resilience rather than tolerance to heat stress by exposing the hybrids across temperature regimes during selection process, which explains the success of the two hybrids in the AICMP trials. The performance of CIMMYT hybrids in these trials clearly indicate that the hybrids have wider adaptation to many stresses including areas with no stresses.

These two hybrids are among the first 18 hybrids licensed to CIMMYT partners for deployment and scale-out in stress-prone ecologies of South Asia.

University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Raichur, India is one of the collaborators in CIMMYT’s Heat Tolerant Maize for Asia (HTMA) project. Funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the Feed the Future (FTF) initiative HTMA is a public-private alliance that targets resource-poor maize farming communities in South Asia who face weather extremes and climate change effects.

New Publications: Research sheds light on climate and yield risk in South Asia

Written by on August 31, 2016. Posted in Publications.

Want to learn more about CIMMYT's activities in Pakistan? Check out our news feed here. Photo: CIMMYT — Want to learn more about CIMMYT’s activities in Pakistan? Check out our news feed here. Photo: CIMMYT

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) — A new paper by scientists from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) highlight important risks to farmers’ yields in Pakistan due to climate change and call for current climate adaptation policies across South Asia to be revised in response.

Rice and wheat are the principal calorie sources for over a billion people in South Asia. Both of these crops are extremely sensitive to climate and agronomic management conditions under which they are grown.

Which is why climate change – projected to increase heat stress and variability across the region – is a huge threat to farmers growing these crops.

And while the influence of climatic conditions on crop growth have been widely studied, empirical evidence of the link between climate variability and yield risk in farmers’ fields is comparatively scarce.

Using data from 240 farm households, the paper “Climate variability and yield risk in South Asia’s rice–wheat systems: emerging evidence from Pakistan” responds to this gap and isolates the effects of agronomic management from climatic variability on rice and wheat yield risks in eight of Pakistan’s twelve agroecological zones. The authors’ results highlight important risks to farmers’ ability to obtain reliable yield levels for both crops, finding season-long and terminal heat stress have a negative effect on rice and wheat yields, with heat being particularly damaging to wheat.

The study also finds farmers have limited capacity to adapt to respond to climactic changes within a crop season, concluding that current climate change adaptation policies must be reviewed to increase resilience for Pakistan’s and South Asia’s cereal farmers, suggesting avenues for investment in improved crop research and development programs.

Read more about this study and more recent publications from CIMMYT researchers, below:

A direct comparison of remote sensing approaches for high-throughput phenotyping in plant breeding. 2016. Tattaris, M.; Reynolds, M.P.; Chapman, S. Frontiers in Plant Science 7: 113
Baseline simulation for global wheat production with CIMMYT mega-environment specific cultivars. 2016. Gbegbelegbe, S.D.; Cammarano, D.; Asseng, S.; Robertson, R.; Chung, U.; Adam, M.; Abdalla, O.; Payne, T.S.; Reynolds, M.P.; Sonder, K.; Shiferaw, B.; Nelson, G. Field Crops Research. Online First.
Climate variability and yield risk in South Asia’s rice–wheat systems: emerging evidence from Pakistan. 2016. Muhammad Arshad; Amjath-Babu, T.S.; Krupnik, T.J.; Aravindakshan, S.; Abbas, A.; Kachele, H.; Muller, K. Paddy Water Environment. Online First.
Genome wide association mapping of stripe rust resistance in Afghan wheat landraces. 2016. Manickavelu, A.; Joukhadar, R.; Jighly, A.; Caixia Lan; Huerta-Espino, J.; Ahmad Shah Stanikzai; Kilian, A.; Singh, R.P.; Ban, T. Plant Science 252: 222-229.

A Chat With: Mark Lynas – sustainable agriculture key to food security amid climate change

Written by on August 23, 2016. Posted in News.

Any views expressed in this article are those of the author and not of CIMMYT

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Sustainable agriculture must be adopted globally if natural ecosystems are to be protected as food production increases to feed a projected population of 9.7 billion by 2050, said author and environmentalist Mark Lynas.

An immediate move to transform overall agricultural practices is needed to overcome the challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss, said Lynas who will speak at a conference to mark the 50th anniversary of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in September.

Rather than expanding agricultural production into new terrain, Lynas, who is a visiting fellow at the Cornell Alliance for Science, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said sustainable intensification agricultural practices are preferable to boost productivity while preserving environmental equilibrium.

A former critic of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) Lynas changed his mind when he said it became clearer to him that there was a scientific consensus that genetic engineering was safe. In his current role at Cornell University, he now advises on public sector biotechnology in developing countries.

Lynas will deliver a presentation during a session entitled “Future Landscapes” at the CIMMYT 50th anniversary conference on Sept. 29, 2016.

He shared some views on the future of agriculture in the following interview.

Q: What are the key challenges the world faces?

Well, it’s become something of a cliche now to talk about how we need to double world food supply by 2050 in order to feed the growing human population. I’m keen to add an environmental perspective to this statement. We need to double world food production but at the same time to shrink the area of cultivated land in order to protect natural ecosystems. With the ongoing crises in climate change and biodiversity loss, we cannot afford to plow up the rain forests or other ecologically valuable areas, so the only viable option is to sustainably intensify existing cultivated areas, hopefully with “rewilding” of spared lands. Obviously, this is a broad-brush assertion, and there is a lot of geographical complexity and nuance underlying this, that we should not forget.

Q: How does your area of specialization address these challenges? What innovation do you see improving agriculture?

I’m particularly focused on biotechnology in agriculture, which can help improve sustainability in many ways. Basically, if you can move from chemistry to biology in addressing challenges, from water use to yield to pest control, so much the better for the environment. An example would be the use of the Bt gene, which produces a protein in the plant that is toxic only to the pest itself and harmless to everything else, including us. That’s a much more sustainable option than indiscriminate insecticide sprays that have serious environmental and health impacts. However, because of their total opposition to genetic engineering, anti-GMO campaigners end up defending continued pesticide use, which is a very strange place for supposedly green activists to be. I’ve seen this at first hand in Bangladesh with the campaign against Bt brinjal. Anti-science superstition of this sort can end up being very environmentally damaging.

Q: What outcomes would you like to see from the CIMMYT conference?

CIMMYT experts were co-authors on a recent paper, “Reducing emissions from agriculture to meet the 2 °C target” in Global Change Biology, that challenged the agriculture sector to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions significantly — by 1 billion tons a year — in order to contribute to meeting the 2 degrees C international climate change target. I thought this was a great initiative and I would love to see more attention given to it by other stakeholders at the CIMMYT conference. I really hope it becomes a talked about target that ends up being matched with real commitments and actions in the field.

A Chat With: U.S. nutritionist Julie Miller Jones speaks out about GE crops

Written by on August 16, 2016. Posted in News.

Any views expressed in this article are those of the author and not of CIMMYT.

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Leading nutritionist Julie Miller Jones aims to bust myths about biotechnology

by educating the general population on the benefits she believes genetically engineered (GE) crops can play in ending extreme hunger and malnutrition.

A shift away from the perception that GE crops are unsafe for the environment and human health is needed if they are to live up to their potential to increase food production and improve nutrition to meet the needs of growing global population, said Miller Jones who will speak at a conference to mark the 50th anniversary of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in September.

Hunger and malnutrition are barriers to sustainable development, because they lead to lowered productivity, diminished health and limit the ability to improve livelihoods, she said. There are nearly 800 million people who suffer from hunger worldwide, the majority in developing countries, according to the United Nations.

A recent report released by the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine said there is no substantiated evidence that foods from GE crops are less safe than foods from non-GE crops. Miller Jones said the general public must be educated about how biotechnology can safely improve food crops and contribute to nourishing a global population projected to grow by more than 2 billion by 2050 to more than 9.7 billion.

GE technologies enable the insertion from one species to another of genetic material (DNA) responsible, for example, for the production of vitamin precursors, such as pro-vitamin A carotenoids. Specific genes from maize, daffodil or carrot, placed in a staple grain, can help address vitamin A shortages in many regions, said the nutritionist. Conventional breeding does not have this ability to insert desirable genes from one species to another, and GE technologies can therefore enhance the contribution of plant breeding in addressing significant public health problems, she said.

Miller Jones has followed wheat-breeding developments over the years. She is a big fan of Norman Borlaug, the late CIMMYT wheat breeder and 1970 Nobel Peace Prize laureate known as the Father of the Green Revolution for the high-yielding wheat varieties he produced, which are credited with saving more than a billion lives in the developing world.

Miller Jones is outspoken about the negative consequences of gluten-free diets and has written several research papers that dispel myths generated by claims that the protein found in wheat is unhealthy.

She is a certified nutrition specialist who is also a distinguished scholar and professor emeritus of nutrition of nutrition at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota. Interested in all aspects of nutrition science, she is actively involved in educating consumers against myths about nutrition and food safety. Currently, she is a scientific advisor to a number of groups such as the Healthy Grains Institute and the Grains Food Foundation that promote healthy diets and educates consumers on the benefits the right balance of grain-based foods.

Jones, who will speak during Session Five on “Future Landscapes” at the CIMMYT 50th anniversary conference on Sept. 29, 2016, shared some insights on the future of agriculture in the following interview.

Q: What is significant about CIMMYT: What role has CIMMYT played in your area of work?

CIMMYT and Norman Borlaug have always been inspirations to me ever since I began my graduate work at the University of Minnesota nearly 50 years ago. I’m interested in nutrition and feeding the world, I taught students about the Green Revolution and the achievements of Borlaug and CIMMYT in the world food supply section of my class on current issues throughout my entire academic career.

Q: What are the key challenges the world faces?

Producing enough food and communicating about the risks and benefits of anything we do. Communicating that there are risks to using GE crops, but these are assessed on a case-by-case basis.. What hasn’t been communicated effectively, so that the average person can understand and not fear the technology, is the risk of not using GE and other agricultural advancements. It’s ironic to me that those claiming to be interested in the environment often reject technologies that enable the use of fewer inputs and scarce resources and they do it in the name of the environment. All must communicate this in a non-defensive, clear way.

Q: How does your area of specialization address these challenges?

As a nutritionist and communicator, I want to work with breeders to ensure that nutrients are one of the aspects that are included in breeding programs. Further, I want to work with others to develop effective strategies to explain advancements in agriculture and plant breeding to reduce consumers’ fears and ease their acceptance and adoption.