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.
NAIROBI, Kenya – Increasing public understanding of genetically modified crops and creating supportive policies were key recommendations made at a session on boosting Africa’s use of biotechnology at the 7th Africa Agricultural Science Week.
CIMMYT breeder Jumbo Bright evaluates a maize ear at the Kiboko Research Station in Kenya. CIMMYT applies modern breeding technologies to develop improved varieties that are tolerant and/or resistant to various stresses. Photo: B. Wawa/CIMMYT
With the population of sub-Saharan Africa projected to reach between 1.5 and 2 billion by 2050 and agriculture struggling to adapt to climate change, the pressure to meet the increasing demand for staple foods, including maize and wheat, has raised interest in biotechnology’s ability to boost yields.
Despite a recent U.S. National Academy of Science study concluding that genetically engineered crops are safe to grow and eat, and growing support for the use of genetically modified (GM) crops, there continues to be controversy around biotechnology.
The African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) hosted a session on “Taking GM crops to market in sub-Saharan Africa: Special focus on policy and regulatory environment,” to discuss policy challenges to biotechnology in Africa.
Participants recommended raising public understanding of biotechnology through farmer and consumer education while enhancing functional policy and regulatory systems to facilitate testing and uptake of demand-driven GM products. The recommendations were to be presented to policymakers in the region.
At the session, Stephen Mugo, CIMMYT principal breeder and regional representative for Africa, spoke on biotechnology’s ability to improve conventional breeding.
“Genetic modification can be used in specific cases, for example, when a trait is very difficult to improve by conventional breeding methods or when it will take a very long time to introduce and/or improve such trait in the crop using conventional breeding methods,” said Mugo. “The use of biotechnology can maximize yield gains in ways that are compatible with human and environmental safety.” Hence, farmers should be given a chance to benefit from GM crops because they could increase their opportunities, productivity and efficiency.
Although GM crops have been grown across the globe for the last 20 years, only three African countries — Burkina Faso, South Africa and Sudan — currently grow them. This is largely due to the controversy and ambivalence surrounding biotechnology policies, with most countries taking a precautionary approach towards adopting biotechnology.
As Francis Nang’ayo, AATF head of Regulatory Affairs said, “Most African countries have taken a precautionary policy position on GM technology borrowed largely from the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, which many countries signed, and which was primarily adopted to ensure environmental conservation.”
This, alongside other factors, such as their commitment to abide by other international conventions and the debate on GM technology, are keeping most African countries from adopting policies that support biotechnology. Nang’ayo added that most countries have adopted stringent regulatory frameworks governing different GM processes and that this apparent overregulation has inhibited advancement of GM technology into the hands of farmers.
However, there has been notable progress in countries such as Kenya, which recently approved the environmental release of genetically transformed maize that carries genes from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) following an application submitted to the National Biosafety Authority by AATF and the Kenya Agricultural Livestock and Research Organization under the Water Efficient Maize for Africa project. This is expected to serve as a litmus test for many African countries that are already conducting confined field trials of GM crops.
Still, most African smallholder farmers have no knowledge of or access to biotechnology. According to Gilbert Bor, a farmer from Kapseret in northwest Kenya, “Many farmers know and understand that seeds in our fields are from science and research, so new and innovative technologies including biotechnology need to trickle down to farmers once proven safe. If such a technology promises farmers improved productivity, income and livelihood, and the likelihood of reducing use of pesticide and insecticide, then it’s important that farmers and consumers are educated and informed.”
Farmers Ngunya Phiri and husband Daniel heads for home with a full load of cobs on their ox cart after harvesting maize cultivated under conservation agriculture in their field in Chipata district, Zambia. Photo: P.Lowe/CIMMYT
EL BATAN, Mexico — Large surface area and low population density make Zambia one of the most land abundant countries in the world.
However, despite this abundancy new data shows that land access is of mounting concern for smallholders. 54 percent of Zambia’s land is under customary tenure, far less than the 94 percent often utilized in land policy documents, according to a new study. Customary land tenure refers to the systems that most rural African communities operate to express and order ownership, possession, and access, and to regulate use and transfer. Unlike introduced landholding regimes, the norms of customary tenure derive from and are sustained by the community itself rather than the state or state law.
Of this available land, most populations are clustered in just 5 percent that has reasonably good market access conditions. These areas are often located in regions with high levels of rainfall variability due to historical infrastructure investments. In addition, these regions are witnessing a rapid increase in land commodification, land alienation and declining fallow rates.
The study concludes that land policy alone is not sufficient to cope with the mounting land constraints experienced by the majority of rural people in Zambia. Investments in infrastructure and services to improve market access conditions and climate change adaption capacity in Zambia’s remaining customary land is a necessity. Land and economic development policies must be attentive to changing dynamics in customary land areas in order to ensure the future viability of the smallholder farming sector.
Effects of relay cover crop planting date on their biomass and maize productivity in a sub-humid region of Zimbabwe under conservation agriculture. 2016. Mhlanga, B.; Cheesman, S.; Maasdorp, B.; Mupangwa, W.; Munyoro, C.; Sithole, C.; Thierfelder, C. NJAS Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences. Online First.
Postulation of rust resistance genes in Nordic spring wheat genotypes and identification of widely effective sources of resistance against the Australian rust flora. 2016. Randhawa, M.S.; Bansal, U.; Lillemo, M.; Miah, H.; Bariana, H.S.; Erenstein, O. Journal of Applied Genetics. Online First.
Quantitative trait loci mapping reveals pleiotropic effect for grain iron and zinc concentrations in wheat. 2016. Crespo-Herrera, L.A.; Singh, R.P.; Velu, G. Annals of Applied Biology. 169 (1) : 27-35.
The geography of Zambia’s customary land : assessing the prospects for smallholder development. 2016. Sitko, N.J.; Chamberlin, J. Land Use Policy 55 : 49-60.
Wheat landraces production on farm level in Turkey; Who is growing in where?. 2016. Kan, M.; Ortiz-Ferrara, G.; Kucukcongar, M.; Keser, M.; Ozdemir, F.; Muminjanov, H.; Qualset, C.; Morgounov, A.I. Pakistan Journal of Agricultural Sciences 53(1) : 159-169.
This story is one of a series of features written during CIMMYT’s 50th anniversary year to highlight significant advancements in maize and wheat research between 1966 and 2016.
HARARE, Zimbabwe (CIMMYT) — When practiced unsustainably, agriculture has led to environmental degradation and famine, which have plagued civilizations through the centuries. Innovations such as irrigation or the plow (since circa 6,000 and 3,000 BC) increased productivity, but often deteriorated long-term soil fertility through erosion and other forms of degradation.
We are now facing historically unprecedented challenges to food security. We must increase food production by 70 percent to feed nine billion people by 2050, without damaging our finite and often already degraded natural resource base. In addition, farmers face more frequent drought and water scarcity, which makes it increasingly difficult to grow crops, and extreme weather events such as the 2015-2016 El Niño, which has already caused large-scale crop failures and soaring maize prices in southern Africa.
Conservation agriculture (CA) practices based on the principles of minimal soil disturbance, permanent soil cover and crop rotation are helping farmers combat growing environmental challenges by maintaining and boosting yields, while protecting the environment and increasing profits for smallholders globally. When CA practices are coupled with water-use efficient and drought tolerant varieties, the benefits are even greater.
Drought is increasingly common in Malawi, leaving an estimated 3 million people in need of urgent humanitarian food assistance this year alone. However, more than 400 farmers and their families in Balaka, southern Malawi, who have been practicing CA over the last 12 years will escape hunger. CIMMYT and its partner Total LandCare have helped more than 65,000 farmers adopt CA systems throughout the entire country. Above, SIMLESA lead farmer Agnes Sendeza harvests maize ears on her farm in Tembwe, Salima District, Malawi. Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT
“CA approaches can mean the difference between farmers being able to feed their families or having to starve,” says Christian Thierfelder, senior cropping systems agronomist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), regarding the recent El Niño – the strongest on record – in southern Africa. To date, approximately 10 million people in southern Africa are dependent on food aid and an estimated 50 million people are projected to be affected, pushing them to the brink of starvation.
Sustainable intensification of agricultural systems and practices such as CA have become a necessity for farmers in Africa, where a combination of climate change and unsustainable agricultural practices are undermining land and water resources. This, coupled with an exploding population, makes increasing productivity while conserving the environment absolutely urgent.
Based on its experience in Latin America, which began in the early 1990s, CIMMYT started its first CA project in Africa in 2004, targeting Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. This initial work focused on understanding CA systems in the context of farmers and their environmental conditions and was funded by the German government and the International Fund for Agriculture Development. Its aim was to facilitate the adoption of CA systems by smallholder farmers. This culminated in the establishment in 2009 of a large PAN-African project on Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Systems in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA).
Farmers in Shamva District, Zimbabwe, are introduced to an animal traction direct seeder which allows seeding and fertilizing directly into crop residues with minimum soil disturbance. Photo: Thierfelder/CIMMYT
Today, CA research at CIMMYT in Africa is increasingly focused on adaptation to the changing climate, which is leading to more erratic rainfall, increased heat stress and seasonal dry spells, in an effort to increase the use of climate-resilient cropping systems. CIMMYT’s work on CA in the region has shown that the practice can significantly increase farmers’ resilience to climate variability and change. Combining sustainable intensification practices with improved varieties has proved to increase productivity by 30-60 percent and income by 40-100 percent under drought conditions.
Despite CA’s successes, many smallholder farmers in developing countries still lack knowledge and understanding of sustainable agricultural practices and often revert to traditional farming practices that are labor-intensive and environmentally damaging. Also, CA systems are difficult to scale out if favorable policies and markets are not in place.
Araujo Njambo (right), a smallholder maize farmer in Mozambique, was used to the traditional way of farming that his family has practiced for generations, which required clearing a plot of land and burning all plant residues remaining on the soil to get a clean seedbed. However, as demand for land increases, this fuels deforestation and depletes soil nutrients. CIMMYT has been working with farmers like Njambo since 2006 to adapt sustainable intensification practices like CA to his circumstances. In the 2013-2014 cropping season, Njambo harvested his best maize yield in the last six years thanks to CA. Photo: Christian Thierfelder/CIMMYT
Mineral fertilizer, for example, is a basic agricultural input, but its adoption and use remain limited in sub-Saharan Africa. Farmers apply less than 10 kilograms per hectare on average due mainly to poor distribution networks (especially in rural areas) and high prices that are 3-5 times those in Europe. Lack of knowledge and training on how to use mineral fertilizer and other agricultural inputs renders them ineffective.
New discoveries in agriculture and breeding must be adaptable and transferable to smallholder farmers. This means improving physical distribution of technologies, training, knowledge and information sharing, credit availability and creating enabling environments for growth.
Just before passing away in September 2009, world-renowned agricultural scientist Norman Borlaug famously implored the world to “take it to the farmer” – a call to action we must follow if we are to sustainably feed the world by 2050. Without a basic understanding of good agricultural practices, most smallholder farmers will not be able to grow enough crops to move past subsistence farming.
Grain yield from a conservation agriculture demonstration plot in Zomba District, Malawi, is measured precisely as part of CIMMYT’s research on the combined benefits of drought tolerant maize and CA. Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT
NAIROBI, Kenya (CIMMYT) – A staggering 80% of the 67 million inhabitants of central Africa’s Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) rely on maize for food, despite the country’s underdeveloped national maize breeding and seed production program. The ravages of war may have limited development efforts, but renewed interest in the DRC by regional and global development partners will provide much needed infrastructure and knowledge sharing support.
Even with abundant resources such as water, labor and fertile land, availability of and access to quality seed remains a major hindrance to a thriving agricultural sector in the DRC. According to the state-run agricultural organization, Institut National pour l’Etude et la Recherche Agronomiques (INERA), North and South Kivu provinces in particular still import food from neighboring Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania, with maize taking up the lion’s share of purchases.
Strategic public-private sector partnerships in agricultural research and development, such as the one between INERA, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) office in Kenya, and the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), are an invaluable investment towards growth and sustainability of maize production in the region. AGRA funds multiple agricultural research projects in the DRC, while CIMMYT is renowned for its excellence in maize research globally. It is against this backdrop that breeders, agronomists, technicians and students gathered at the drought-tolerant (DT) maize site in Kiboko, Kenya, for a ten-day training course dubbed ‘Pollinations, Nursery and Trials Management’. The training, held from June 13 – 23, 2016, and jointly supported by CIMMYT and AGRA, and hosted by CIMMYT, emphasized hand pollination in maize variety development and seed multiplication.
Remarks by Stephen Mugo, CIMMYT Regional Representative for Africa, and Maize Breeder, highlighted training as one of the ways CIMMYT supports capacity building and development in the region.
He said, “It is my hope that knowledge and skills imparted during this course will be shared with other professionals at INERA, to improve maize breeding and production capabilities in the DRC.”
The course, organized by CIMMYT Maize Breeder, Lewis Machida, featured a mix of detailed lectures and practical exercises, expertly delivered by various CIMMYT scientists. Presentations covered topics such as basic seed production (hybrids and open pollinated varieties) and maintenance, breeding methods, and maize pollinations including hand pollination.
Photo: Lewis Machida
Hand pollination
Pollination, the process responsible for reproduction and continuity of plant life, is also a breeder’s playground, enabling shuffling of genes, plant adaptation and evolution. In maize breeding, this means development of seeds with tolerance to stresses such as drought, heat, pests and diseases.
Hand pollination, the general term for human intervention in this delicate process, can be further classified into self pollination, and cross pollination. As the name suggests, hand pollination is done by hand, calling for extreme care to minimize contamination and damage of plants.
“Successful production and maintenance of varieties depends largely on hand pollination. Without this process, it would be difficult to produce genetically pure seeds,” says Mugo, adding, “For this reason, hand pollination is considered the core of variety development in maize breeding.”
For the practical sessions of the course, participants deftly carried out the steps in hand pollination, including shoot bagging, pollen collection & placement, and detasseling.
Elois Cinyabuguma, Manager of INERA’s Cereal Unit, shared that the training offered much needed technical skills to scale up seed production in his country, saying, “With CIMMYT germplasm, and sound technical knowledge on multiplication, storage and pest & disease management, DRC is well on its way to setting up a well-rounded maize development program.”
Beyond building the DRC’s capacity for maize breeding and production in general, lessons from the training will be implemented first in North and South Kivu provinces, in hopes of reducing or eliminating maize imports. The event was also a unique opportunity to enhance collaboration among INERA, CIMMYT and AGRA, in anticipation of future shared projects pertaining to maize research, production and distribution.
All participants were issued with a certificate on successful completion of the course.
A farmer in her wheat field in Bhutan. Photo: Sangay Tshewang/RNRRD
BHUTAN — Yellow and brown rusts are among the most common and damaging challenges to wheat production in Bhutan. Yellow or stripe rust (Puccinia striformis f. sp. tritici), a disease favored by cool weather conditions, is a major threat owing to the prevalence of cool winter conditions during the cropping season in most wheat growing regions. In Bhutan, yellow rust is the first disease to appear in the cropping season and, if left uncontrolled, has the potential to destroy the whole wheat crop. It has occurred every year in most wheat growing areas over the last two decades.
Brown or leaf rust (Pucciniatriticina Eriks.), the second most important wheat disease in Bhutan, is also favored by climatic conditions, with severe infection on different advanced wheat lines being recorded over the last ten years. This is an indication that leaf rust could be just as threatening as yellow rust if susceptible cultivars are grown under favorable environmental conditions. Finally, if these rusts are not controlled, it is possible that Bhutan could become a primary source of inoculum, which would then be carried to its neighbors by the wind.
Yellow rust of wheat. Photo: Arun Joshi/CIMMYT
Bangladesh, Bhutan’s southern neighbor, does not have much of a history of rust diseases, but climate change could alter that. And while yellow rust doesn’t occur at all in Bangladesh and leaf rust appears only occasionally (albeit with high intensity), both have the potential to spread in the country.
The absence of high rust pressure in Bangladesh is a serious challenge when it comes to evaluating the rust resistance of wheat lines needed to prepare for uncertain future climates. In contrast, Bhutan is in a strategic position to conduct yellow and leaf rust epidemiological studies and is active in regional and global efforts aimed at studying and managing rust. Therefore, for the first time, Bhutan and Bangladesh are collaborating on evaluating Bangladeshi wheat lines for resistance to yellow and leaf rusts with support from CIMMYT.
Advanced wheat lines from Bangladesh are evaluated for rust resistance in Bhutan. Photo: Sangay Tshewang/RNRRD
During the 2015–2016 cropping season, Bangladesh sent 50 advanced wheat lines identified as having potential rust resistance to Bhutan for screening. The evaluation was done under natural conditions at the Renewable Natural Resources Research and Development Center (RNRRD) in Bajo, about 70 kilometers east of Thimphu, Bhutan’s capital. The results are promising, with 30 lines showing resistance to the rusts. The data were shared with Bangladeshi partners, who will use them to inform their breeding decisions.
Bhutan has been collaborating with CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program since 2011 and has released three rust resistant varieties from CIMMYT in the past two years. Although there has been regional collaboration on wheat research in South Asia mainly through CIMMYT, testing wheat lines from Bangladesh for rust resistance in Bhutan is a first.
Listen to a podcast of CIMMYT maize breeder Biswanath Das discussing the importance of adapting maize breeding and seed systems to climate change here.
Investment in accelerating the adaptation of maize breeding and seed systems to climate change is needed a new report finds. Photo: Peter Lowe/ CIMMYT
EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Breeding and seed systems must be adapted to survive projected climate change if major loss of maize yields is to be avoided, a new report shows.
Tools that forecast the response of crops to different weather and climate conditions, coupled with crop yield modeling have enabled agricultural scientists to predict and formulate plans for potential future climate change.
“Responding better to changes in climate by improving efficiency of the breeding cycle and reducing the amount of time it takes to get improved maize into the hands of farmers is key to ensuring a food secure future,” said International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) maize breeder and co-author of the study Biswanath Das.
Projections for Africa demonstrate climate-change related increases in temperature will negatively impact on-farm yields as heat and drought stress shorten crop production time, the length of time between maize planting and harvesting, Das said.
Shorter and hotter growing seasons are expected to become a reality over the next 15 years, which could mean that maize varieties currently being developed may struggle to adapt, particularly since current breeding and commercialization cycles to improve maize in Africa can take several decades.
The report published in Nature Climate Change, led by Andy Challinor from the University of Leeds in collaboration with the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and CIMMYT, calls for an acceleration of breeding, delivery and adoption processes. The authors suggest that all stages could be sped up using a variety of techniques, requiring elaborate planning and coordination involving numerous actors and interest groups.
“Current warming will reduce yields unless maize breeding and seed systems adapt immediately,” Das said. “Increased collaboration among different breeding institutes and public-private collaborations are needed so that we share information, technologies and germplasm to make the best germplasm and technology available to the widest number of scientists as possible.”
“Seed systems could be working with regulators to reduce the amount of time it takes for varieties to become available to farmers and developing new ways of producing seed more cheaply and efficiently while maintaining quality.”
Public seed systems should continue working closely with the private sector to encourage the latest genetic advances to become available to farmers in the shortest time possible, Das added.
CIMMYT has undertaken other work in this area. An intensive breeding effort through the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project developed a large phenotyping network and breeding pipeline to produce new maize varieties with heat and drought tolerance. In collaboration with over 100 national seed companies, the project supported the production of 54,000 tons of drought-tolerant maize in 2014 alone, benefiting an estimated 5.4 million households – or 43 million people – across 13 countries in Africa.
In 2015, a new project was started to expand the success of DTMA so that more smallholder farmers in Africa would have access to affordable improved maize varieties through a network of national seed companies.
Despite the considerable efforts being made to adapt maize farming to changing climates, Das warned that they must be sustained and encouraged on a larger scale in order for breeding programs to produce climate-ready maize varieties for the future.
This research is carried out with support from CGIAR Fund Donors, CCAFS Donors, MAIZE CRP Donors and through bilateral funding agreements. Funding for this project came from: Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research; Ireland Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs; New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade; Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation; Thailand; UK Department of International Development; The United States Agency for International Development and the European Union. The Program is carried out with technical support from The International Fund for Agricultural Development.
Stocks of maize seed have been certified for quality and are now ready to be distributed to farmers in drought-affected districts. Photo: Tadele Asfaw/CIMMYT
As the Rio 2016 Olympics draw near, team managers are rushing to recruit their best sportspeople from all over the country, put them through fitness tests, and get them to various stadiums before the starter’s gun goes off.
The team working on the Emergency Seed Support for Drought Affected Maize and Wheat Growing Areas of Ethiopia initiative is facing a similar challenge. But instead of recruiting long jumpers and marathon runners, they are tasked with procuring quality seeds of elite maize, wheat, and sorghum varieties and distributing them to farmers before the start of the main planting season to increase food security in regions devastated by recent droughts.
Dry conditions are not uncommon in Ethiopia, but the 2015-2016 El Niño – the strongest on record – has led to the worst drought in a decade. Harvests across Ethiopia were affected, leaving 10.2 million people – more than 1 in 10 Ethiopians – in need of emergency food assistance.
Food security status across Ethiopia. Source: Fews.Net
Planning for a food-secure future
The government of Ethiopia and international organizations are working to provide food aid for people facing immediate shortages, but Bekele Abeyo, senior wheat breeder and pathologist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) for sub-Saharan Africa and leader of the emergency seed project, is focusing on a more sustainable future.
“Relief efforts will provide sustenance today, but we need to ensure there is also food on plates tomorrow,” says Abeyo. “With the large crop losses experienced in 2015, farmers were not able to save seed for planting in 2016 and did not have sufficient income to purchase more. Unless these farmers are able to access seed, we may face further shortages in 2017.”
CIMMYT, with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development, is working with partners to supply over 2,700 tons of seed to more than 226,000 households across 71 woredas (districts) in four regions of Ethiopia. CIMMYT will work with both the formal seed sector and farmers’ cooperatives to source quality seed from within Ethiopia and make sure it reaches the farmers who need it the most. These high-yielding, drought resistant varieties are being supplied along with agronomic advice to further increase farmers’ resilience.
Together with Ethiopia’s Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA), a primary partner in the project, CIMMYT organized workshops in each of the target regions –Amara, Oromia, Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s Region (SNNPR), and Tigray – to engage stakeholders and collectively finalize the workplan. Based on participant feedback, some sorghum will now also be supplied to selected regions, in addition to maize and wheat.
“It is important to consider the needs of the individual communities and regions,” says Yitbarek Semeane, director of ATA’s Seed Systems. “ATA has very strong links with the regions and government institutions so is able to provide feedback on farmers’ needs and preferences. As weather patterns in Ethiopia are becoming increasingly unpredictable, many farmers are changing their farming practices, or even switching crops.”
Seed is being distributed to 240 drought-affected farmers in the kebele of Ubobracha. Photo: E. Quilligan/CIMMYT
A race against time
With the main planting season rapidly approaching, the team is racing to source, procure, certify, transport and distribute seeds.
“The success of this project will depend on us procuring enough quality seed and distributing it to farmers before the main planting season,” says Tadele Asfaw, CIMMYT-Ethiopia program management officer and member of the project’s Seed Procurement Committee.
By mid-April, the team had successfully procured almost all the required maize and sorghum seeds and were navigating the complex logistics to get the requested varieties to each woreda. Agreements are also being signed with farmers’ cooperatives to ensure that wheat seed can be purchased without disrupting the normal seed system.
According to Ayele Badebo, CIMMYT scientist and wheat seed coordinator for the project, CIMMYT does not have the capacity to collect seed from individual farmers within each woreda, but this is something the cooperatives are ideally placed to do. They have the trust of both CIMMYT and farmers, and through the previous seed scaling project, they know which farmers were given seed to multiply and will now have it available for sale.
At the end of March, the seed procurement team traveled to eastern Oromia – one of the areas most affected by the 2015 drought – to meet with Chercher oda bultum, a farmers’ cooperative and seed supplier. The team was very satisfied to see that the supplier had sufficient stock of Melkassa2 and Melkassa4, locally-adapted drought resistant maize varieties that had already been certified for germination and moisture by another collaborator, Haramaya University. This same process is now underway for wheat seed.
Ethiopia’s Bureaus of Agriculture and Natural Resources are also working with woreda representatives to ensure that the seed will be distributed to those farmers who need it most, and who have sufficient land and agronomic tools to benefit from this initiative.
“Working with local enterprises and partners enables us to procure and deliver seed to drought-affected farmers as quickly as possible,” says Abeyo. “In combination with CIMMYT’s longer-term efforts in the region, we hope that we can foster a more robust seed system and increase food security for 2016 and beyond.”
The meeting room at ATA was a hive of activity as farmers’ unions met to negotiate transport of emergency seed. Photo: Emma Quilligan/CIMMYT
Partnering for success
While CIMMYT has the knowledge, networks and experience in Ethiopia to spring into action, the cooperation of partners such as the Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA), farmers’ unions and Ethiopia’s Bureaus of Agriculture and Natural Resources is vital.
Established in 2010, the ATA is acting as a catalyst to spur the growth and transformation of Ethiopia’s agriculture sector. With funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, ATA is working with the Ministry and Regional Bureaus of Agriculture and Natural Resources to coordinate the collection, cleaning, packing, labeling and distribution of quality seed to drought-affected farmers, as well as help train development agents and raise farmer awareness.
CIMMYT is collaborating with national partners in Nepal to support the expansion of registered hybrid maize and to help increase the crop’s productivity throughout the country. Photo: Ashok Rai/CIMMYT
Maize is the second most important food crop in Nepal, after rice. It contributes approximately 25 percent of Nepal’s food basket and occupies around 26 percent of the total cropped area. Maize productivity (2.3 tons per hectare) in Nepal is still quite low compared to the global average of 5.5 tons per hectare (t/ha).
Growing demand from Nepal’s poultry industry cannot be met by growing only open-pollinated varieties. Because of their high productivity, quality and profitability, higher-yielding hybrids have become increasingly popular among farmers. However, most maize hybrids are only approved for sale and cultivation in the central and eastern Terai, east of the Narayani River. To meet market demand, farmers in many areas, especially in western Nepal, sometimes purchase non-approved hybrid seeds. These hybrid seeds are not registered at Nepal’s Seed Quality Control Centre and are traded through informal channels.
Not wishing to risk a government penalty for violating the seed policy, traders have not distributed many high-performing hybrids, thereby restricting their local production, fair distribution and widespread availability, which could benefit many farmers in Nepal. Of the estimated 2,500 tons of hybrid maize grown in Nepal annually, only 1,000 tons are registered hybrids.
In 2014 and 2015, the CIMMYT-led Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) and Nepal’s National Maize Research Program (NMRP) partnered to evaluate maize hybrids in six additional districts (Banke, Bardiya, Kailali, Kanchanpur, Surkhet and Dadeldhura) in western Nepal. Trials were conducted in spring in the Terai and in summer in the mid-hills; they were monitored by a team of NMRP stakeholders. Performance data for variety release and registration were shared with Nepal’s National Seed Board (NSB).
Of the ten hybrids evaluated, four (TX 369, Bioseed 9220, Rajkumar and Nutan) were found to be agronomically superior, producing more than 6 t/ha. They also had tight husk cover, which provides moderate resistance to northern leaf blight and grey leaf spot. Based on the evaluation results, the NSB has registered and approved the four hybrid varieties for sale in western Nepal.
Highlighting the need to increase farmers’ access to registered hybrids, Dilaram Bhandari, NSB member and Director of the Crop Development Directorate of Nepal’s Department of Agriculture, said, “We have to adopt this modality for other hybrids as well, since new hybrids expand outside the recommendation domains quite frequently.”
CIMMYT maize seed system specialist James Gethi inspects a maize field in Nzega, Tanzania. Photo: Kelah Kaimenyi/CIMMYT.
Maize is not only a staple in diets across sub-Saharan Africa – it is a cash crop that supports millions of farmer households. Maize is grown on over 33 million hectares in just 13 of 48 countries in the region – accounting for 72% of all maize produced in the region. This crop, without a doubt, is king.
However, rising temperatures and erratic rainfall patterns threaten maize production across the continent. Total crop loss occurs if there’s little or no rainfall at the flowering stage, when maize is most vulnerable. And when temperatures increase, soil moisture is quickly depleted and farmers have to resort to prolonged irrigation, a costly undertaking for smallholders.
Drought-tolerant (DT) maize varieties produce better yields both in good and bad seasons compared to most commercial varieties available in the region. Since 2006, CIMMYT has developed 200 drought-tolerant varieties and hybrids, many of which also possess desirable traits such as resistance to major diseases.
In addition to developing quality maize that is high yielding and disease resistant, the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa Seed Scaling (DTMASS) project led by CIMMYT is working to ensure these improved varieties are affordable and attractive to farmers. Two and a half million smallholder farmers in Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia are expected to benefit from in-country partnerships and networks that boost production and distribution of DT maize seed. These countries account for 25 percent (or 252 million) of the population in sub-Saharan Africa, and 41 percent of maize production areas.
To access quality improved seed, farmers in Africa face various constraints such as high prices, low supply and limited knowledge about improved seeds. Through surveys conducted among nearly 5,000 farmer households in Kenya, Mozambique and Zambia, CIMMYT learned that when farmers buy seed, the traits they care most about are early crop maturity, yield, and tolerance/resistance to stresses such as drought and disease. In most cases, long-term use and preference for a particular seed variety influence buying habits, but now farmers are increasingly focusing on tolerance/resistance to drought, pests and diseases.
“Our key focus is on sustainable seed production and increasing demand,” said Kate Fehlenberg, DTMASS project manager. “This means building market skills for producers and creating an environment to entice risk-averse farmers to try new drought-tolerant varieties.”
CIMMYT is working with partners to increase farmer preference for DT seed by supporting promotional and marketing activities, and improving seed production capacity. CIMMYT will also work to ensure local institutions have the technological and production capacity to independently produce and distribute seed throughout DTMASS target countries.
Scaling activities will allow DT seed to spread across various geographical areas (scaling “out”) and build the capacity of local institutions to independently control sustainable seed production (scaling “up”). Both scaling up and out rely on giving stakeholders in the maize value chain compelling reasons to continue producing, distributing and consuming DT maize varieties.
Over 50 selected small- and medium-scale seed companies will be supported through training workshops on seed production and seed business management. Seed companies will also receive financial grants to support expansion activities such as purchasing special seed processing and packing equipment, restoring seed storage and other facilities, and marketing.
The next big challenge for DTMASS is to increase adoption of drought-tolerant maize, which will strengthen seed systems in Africa. Photo: Kelah Kaimenyi/CIMMYT.
This story is one of a series of features written during CIMMYT’s 50th anniversary year to highlight significant advancements in maize and wheat research between 1966 and 2016.
EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Maize and wheat biofortification can help reduce malnutrition in regions where nutritional options are unavailable, limited or unaffordable, but must be combined with education to be most effective, particularly as climate change jeopardizes food security, according to researchers at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).
Climate change could kill more than half a million adults in 2050 due to changes in diets and bodyweight from reduced crop productivity, a new report from the University of Oxford states. Projected improvement in food availability for a growing population could be cut by about a third, leading to average per-person reductions in food availability of 3.2 percent, reductions in fruit and vegetable intake of 4 percent and red meat consumption of .07 percent, according to the report.
Over the past 50 years since CIMMYT was founded in 1966, various research activities have been undertaken to boost protein quality and micronutrient levels in maize and wheat to help improve nutrition in poor communities, which the Oxford report estimates will be hardest hit by climate change. As one measure of CIMMYT’s success, scientists Evangelina Villegas and Surinder Vasal were recognized with the prestigious World Food Prize in 2000 for their work developing quality protein maize (QPM).
“We’ve got a lot of balls in the air to tackle the ongoing food security crisis and anticipate future needs as the population grows and the climate changes unpredictably,” said Natalia Palacios, head of maize quality, adding that a key component of current research is the strategic use of genetic resources held in the CIMMYT gene bank.
“CIMMYT’s contribution to boosting the nutritional value of maize and wheat is hugely significant for people who have access to these grains, but very little dietary diversity otherwise. Undernourishment is epidemic in parts of the world and it’s vital that we tackle the problem by biofortifying crops and including nutrition in sustainable intensification interventions.”
Undernourishment affects some 795 million people worldwide – meaning that more than one out of every nine people do not get enough food to lead a healthy, active lifestyle, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). By 2050, reduced fruit and vegetable intake could cause twice as many deaths as under-nutrition, according to the Oxford report, which was produced by the university’s Future of Food Programme.
As staple foods, maize and wheat provide vital nutrients and health benefits, making up close to one-quarter of the world’s daily energy intake, and contributing 27 percent of the total calories in the diets of people living in developing countries, according to FAO.
“Nutrition is very complex and in addition to deploying scientific methods such as biofortification to develop nutritious crops, we try and serve an educational role, helping people understand how best to prepare certain foods to gain the most value,” Palacios said. “Sometimes communities have access to nutritious food but they don’t know how to prepare it without killing the nutrients.”
The value of biofortified crops is high in rural areas where people have vegetables for a few months, but must rely solely on maize for the rest of the year, she added, explaining that fortified flour and food may be more easily accessed in urban areas where there are more dietary options.
Some of the thousands of samples that make up the maize collection in the Wellhausen-Anderson Plant Genetic Resources Center at CIMMYT’s global headquarters in Texcoco, Mexico. (Photo: Xochiquetzal Fonseca/CIMMYT)
PROMOTING PROTEIN QUALITY
Conventional maize varieties cannot provide an adequate balance of amino acids for people with diets dominated by the grain and with no adequate alternative source of protein. Since the breakthrough findings of Villegas and Vasal, in some areas scientists now develop QPM, which offers an inexpensive alternative for smallholder farmers.
CIMMYT scientists also develop QPM and other nutritious conventionally bred maize varieties for the Nutritious Maize for Ethiopia (NuME) project funded by the government of Canada. NuME, which also helps farmers improve agricultural techniques by encouraging the deployment of improved agronomic practices, builds on a former seven-year collaborative QPM effort with partners in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
In Ethiopia, where average life expectancy is 56 years of age, the food security situation is critical due in part to drought caused by a recent El Nino climate system, according to the U.N. World Food Programme. More than 8 million people out of a population of 90 million people are in need of food assistance. Almost 30 percent of the population lives below the national poverty line, 40 percent of children under the age of 5 are stunted, 9 percent are acutely malnourished and 25 percent are underweight, according to the 2014 Ethiopia Mini Demographic and Health Survey. The NuMe project is helping to shore up sustainable food supplies and boost nutrition in the country, where the vast majority of people live in rural areas and are engaged in rain-fed subsistence agriculture.
INCREASING MICRONUTRIENTS
CIMMYT maize and wheat scientists tackle micronutrient deficiency, or “hidden hunger,” through the interdisciplinary, collaborative program HarvestPlus, which was launched in 2003 and is now part of the Agriculture for Nutrition and Health program managed by the CGIAR consortium of agricultural researchers.
Some 2 billion people around the world suffer from micronutrient deficiency, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Micronutrient deficiency occurs when food does not provide enough vitamins and minerals. South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa are most affected by hidden hunger, which is characterized by iron-deficiency anemia, vitamin A and zinc deficiency.
Work at CIMMYT to combat micronutrient deficiency is aligned with the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) — in particular Goal 2, which aims to end all forms of malnutrition by 2030. The SDG also aims to meet internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under 5 years of age, and to address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, older people, pregnant and lactating women by 2025.
WHOLESOME WHEAT
The wheat component of the HarvestPlus program involves developing and distributing wheat varieties with high zinc levels by introducing genetic diversity from wild species and landraces into adapted wheat.
Zinc deficiency affects about one-third of the world’s population, causing lower respiratory tract infections, malaria, diarrheal disease, hypogonadism, impaired immune function, skin disorders, cognitive dysfunction, and anorexia, according to the WHO, which attributes about 800,000 deaths worldwide each year to zinc deficiency. Additionally, worldwide, approximately 165 million children under five years of age are stunted due to zinc deficiency.
A project to develop superior wheat lines combining higher yield and high zinc concentrations in collaboration with national agriculture program partners in South Asia has led to new biofortified varieties 20 to 40 percent superior in grain zinc concentration.
“We’re playing a vital role in this area,” said CIMMYT wheat breeder Velu Govindan. “Our research has led to new varieties agronomically equal to, or superior to, other popular wheat cultivars with grain yield potential at par or — in some cases – even superior to popular wheat varieties adopted by smallholder farmers in South Asia where we’ve been focused.”
Scientists are studying the potential impact of climate-change related warmer temperatures and erratic rainfall on the nutritional value of wheat. An evaluation of the effect of water and heat stress with a particular focus on grain protein content, zinc and iron concentrations revealed that protein and zinc concentrations increased in water and heat-stressed environments, while zinc and iron yield was higher in non-stressed conditions.
“The results of our study suggest that genetic gains in yield potential of modern wheat varieties have tended to reduce grain zinc levels,” Govindan said. “In some instances, environmental variability might influence the extent to which this effect manifests itself, a key finding as we work toward finding solutions to the potential impact of climate change on food and nutrition security.”
Additionally, a recent HarvestPlus study revealed that modern genomic tools such as genomic selection hold great potential for biofortification breeding to enhance zinc concentrations in wheat.
IMPROVING MAIZE
Scientists working with HarvestPlus have developed vitamin A-enriched “orange” maize. Orange maize is conventionally bred to provide higher levels of pro-vitamin A carotenoids, a natural plant pigment found in such orange foods as mangoes, carrots, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, dark leafy greens and meat, converted into vitamin A by the body.
Maize breeders, who are currently working on developing varieties with 50 percent more pro-vitamin A than the first commercialized varieties released, identified germplasm with the highest amounts of carotenoids to develop the varieties. In Zambia, Zimbawe and Malawi, 12 varieties, which are agronomically competititve and have about 8ppm provitamin A, have been released.
Provitamin A from maize is efficiently absorbed and converted into vitamin A in the body. Stores of Vitamin A in 5 to 7 year old children improved when they ate orange maize, according to HarvestPlus research. The study also shows preliminary data demonstrating that children who ate orange maize for six months experienced an improved capacity of the eye to adjust to dim light. The findings indicate an improvement in night vision, a function dependent on adequate levels of vitamin A in the body.
Researchers are also developing maize varieties high in zinc.
Efforts on this front have been a major focus in Latin America, especially in Nicaragua, Guatemala and Colombia. Scientists expect the first wave of high zinc hybrids and varieties will be released in 2017. Further efforts are starting in such countries as Zambia, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia. Results from the first nutrition studies in young rural Zambian children indicate that biofortified maize can meet zinc requirements and provide an effective dietary alternative to regular maize for the vulnerable population.
A Kenyan man holds a harvest of a genetically engineered (GE) maize at the Kari research station in Kiboko, Makueni County. Photo: Nation Media Group Kenya
EL BATAN, MEXICO (CIMMYT) — Genetically engineered (GE) crops are as safe to eat as conventionally bred crops and have benefited the environment and ecosystem diversity by reducing pesticide use, according to a study released by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) earlier this month.
Conducted by a committee of 20 scientists chosen by the NAS to represent diverse disciplines relevant to the topic, the study brought together ample and broad-ranging evidence from the last 20 years, the period since the first commercial release of GE crops, regarding their impacts on yields, the abundance and diversity of insects, insecticide and herbicide use, the development of resistance to agrochemicals in weeds and pests, human and animal health and various other aspects of concern to society.
The committee collectively read 900 studies and publications, listened to 80 speakers at public meetings and webinars and reviewed over 700 comments and documents submitted by the public on GE crops past, present and future.
“Consumers and stakeholders have made diverse claims about GE crops, ranging from ‘they cause cancer’ to ‘we cannot feed the world without them,’” said Kevin Pixley, director of the Genetic Resources Program at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and member of the committee authoring the report. “The report is both retrospective and forward-looking; it openly considers all credible views and evidence, and provides findings and recommendations on a wide range of issues pertinent to GE and future novel crops.”
Regarding health concerns, the committee found no conclusive evidence that GE crops have contributed to obesity, diabetes, kidney disease, autism, celiac disease or food allergies. The report also states that there is “no conclusive evidence of cause-and-effect relationships between GE crops and environmental problems.”
The committee raised a red flag regarding weed and insect species developing resistance to commonly used herbicides and pesticides where farmers had grown GE crops without following proper practices to avoid this development. The authors noted that these issues are not unique to GE crops and said they deserved special attention and research.
Anne Maritim, 52 year old widow from Labotiet village in Bomet County in Kenya in her field planted with Drought Tego variety, a conventional drought tolerant variety that is high-yielding and early maturing. Photo: Brenda Wawa/CIMMYT
“The report contains a wealth of information about GE crops that enables readers to delve into the issues and topics of greatest interest or concern,” said Pixley. “Sweeping conclusions about GE crops are few, because the issues are multidimensional and often viewed differently by each individual.”
For the last 20 years some publics have waged a war on GE crops and urged they be banned from production. As one result, virtually no GE crops have been grown in most of Europe and calls for stricter labeling on GE products have also been made in countries including the United States and Canada.
The report states that regulators should not focus on genetic engineering or the process by which new crops are bred, but rather perform safety testing on individual products, based on their novelty and potential for adverse health or environmental effects.
Along the same lines, the study observed that a variety of new technologies, including gene-editing techniques, such as CRISPR/Cas9, which allow researchers quickly and efficiently to edit, cut out, and replace genes, are blurring the distinction between genetic engineering and conventional plant breeding.
“This is similar to the blurring of the differences between what we have been able do with our cell phones and computers over the last 20 years,” explained Pixley.
Included in the report is a list of traits, including those which can enhance nutritional value, food safety, forage quality and post-harvest storage, that are being or will likely be bred into future varieties using an expanding toolbox that includes genetic engineering, gene editing, genomic selection and others.
“This report provides a fresh perspective and proposes a conceptual framework for managing potential health or environmental risks of novel crop traits, regardless of which process or technology is used to breed them into our crops,” said Pixley “Genetic engineering and other emerging technologies offer options for plant breeders to meet the crop production and food security challenges of this and future generations.”
HARARE — Several African nation ambassadors to Zimbabwe pledged to step up support for improved agriculture technologies during a visit to The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center’s (CIMMYT) Southern Africa Regional Office (CIMMYT-SARO) in Harare, Zimbabwe, in April.
The special field day and meeting, held as part of CIMMYT 50 celebrations, gave ambassadors from 12 African countries (Algeria, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Namibia, Nigeria, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa and Zambia) the opportunity to learn about CIMMYT projects that are helping to strengthen food systems in sub-Saharan Africa and discuss future initiatives.
During the visit, the need to develop policies that promote smallholder farmers’ access to technologies that enable them to increase yields and improve crop resilience in the face of challenges such as droughts, as well as policies to address poverty, food security and economic growth surfaced as main priorities for the countries represented.
African ambassadors learned about CIMMYT-promoted agricultural technologies while visiting the CIMMYT-Southern Africa Regional Office (CIMMYT-SARO) in Harare, Zimbabwe. Photo: Johnson Siamachira/CIMMYT
In his welcome address, Mulugetta Mekuria, CIMMYT-SARO regional representative, pointed out, “Sub-Saharan Africa’s food security faces numerous challenges, but drought is the most devastating because our farmers rely on rainfed agriculture. As you will see, CIMMYT’s work has created high-level impacts. But a host of challenges still hamper socioeconomic growth, such as reduced funding of agricultural research.”
According to Mekuria, CIMMYT’s work in sub-Saharan Africa aims to ensure farmers can access improved maize seed with drought tolerance and other relevant traits that contribute to higher, more stable yields, as well as technologies such as optimal fertilizer application. He noted that farmers in sub-Saharan African countries lag behind other regions in fertilizer application, applying, on average, less than 10 kg per hectare, which is 10 percent of the world average.
Another issue brought up was the lack of funding of agricultural research for development by most bilateral agencies on which African governments depend. The diplomats pledged to advise their governments of the need to increase support for improved agricultural technologies. They agreed that funding agricultural research work in line with the 2006 Abuja Declaration to allocate at least 1 percent of the donor country’s gross domestic product to agricultural research is of the utmost importance. Enhancing access to markets, extension services and inputs and supporting women and youth in agriculture were also identified as fundamental policy issues that need to be urgently addressed. Strong partnerships and collaborative efforts between various African governments, CIMMYT and the private sector were also called for.
The ambassadors were briefed on CIMMYT’s achievements in the region, and how, in partnership with national agricultural research systems and private seed companies, they have released more than 200 drought-tolerant maize varieties that perform significantly better under moderate drought conditions than varieties already on the market, while yielding the same – or better – in a normal season. More than 6 million farmers in sub-Saharan Africa grow improved drought tolerant maize varieties developed by CIMMYT and partners.
A wide range of CIMMYT-SARO technologies were also showcased, including sustainable intensification strategies based on the principles of conservation agriculture. Compared to conventional cropping practices, conservation agriculture increases yields after two to five cropping seasons due to the combined benefits of minimum soil disturbance, crop residue retention and crop rotation. Conservation agriculture has been successfully promoted in Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe for the past 10 years. For example, yield increases of 20-60 percent were recorded in trials in farmers’ fields in Malawi, while in Zambia and Zimbabwe, yields increased by almost 60% using animal traction innovation agriculture technologies.
Other technologies demonstrated were pro-vitamin A maize and quality protein maize. The diplomats learned that CIMMYT had released eight pro-vitamin A hybrids with 28% more vitamin A content in Zambia (4), Malawi (3) and Zimbabwe (1). On improved varieties, CIMMYT sent 823 seed shipments (1.3 million envelopes) to 835 institutions worldwide over the last four years.
“The success of our projects goes beyond the breeding work. Through the value chain approach, our work now is to ensure that seed companies and, ultimately, maize farmers benefit from the seed that is developed with their needs in mind. Getting drought-tolerant maize and other improved seeds to the markets and farmers is a critical next step,” said James Gethi, CIMMYT seed systems specialist.
Norman Borlaug (fourth right) in the field showing a plot of Sonora-64, one of the semi-dwarf, high-yield, disease-resistant varieties that was key to the Green Revolution, to a group of young international trainees near Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, northern Mexico. Photo: CIMMYT.
To mark the 50th anniversary of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Mexico’s Secretariat of Agriculture (SAGARPA) is displaying an exhibition honoring the life and legacy of Nobel Prize Laureate and CIMMYT scientist Norman Borlaug.
The exhibit, which opens from 25-27 May, includes photographs, personal items and awards that belonged to Borlaug and other CIMMYT scientists who made great strides in the center’s fight against hunger.
In his speech at the inauguration of the exhibit, CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff emphasized the strong ties between Borlaug, CIMMYT and Mexico. “The work that Borlaug did in wheat with the support of Mexican farmers and scientists saved a billion lives around the world,” he said, and thanked SAGARPA for honoring Borlaug’s legacy with the event. “Today, thanks to Borlaug, CIMMYT continues its work in Mexico to fight hunger around the world.”
A key part of this work is the MasAgro (Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture) project, a joint initiative between CIMMYT and SAGARPA that works to strengthen food security in Mexico. During his address, Kropff announced that the project has just developed 11 new varieties of wheat for Mexico, with genetic characteristics for high yield, pest resistance, and tolerance to climate change related stresses.
These wheat varieties are the result of 8 years of research and are the latest generation in a long line of cultivars generated from CIMMYT’s wheat breeding programs, dating from Borlaug himself to the present day. A recent wheat impact study found that 50 percent of the land used to grow wheat around the world is planted with CIMMYT or CIMMYT-derived varieties, feeding billions across the globe.
CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff and Mexico’s Secretary of Agriculture, José Eduardo Calzada Rovirosa display the signed agreement. Photo: CIMMYT.
In his welcome address, Mexico’s Secretary of Agriculture, José Eduardo Calzada Rovirosa praised Borlaug and CIMMYT’s work, and emphasized the importance of protecting food security both in Mexico and around the world. “The topic of food security is becoming more and more important every day. According to the FAO, food production must increase by 70% by 2050 in order to keep up with demand,” he said.
Calzada Rovirosa and Kropff signed an agreement between CIMMYT and SAGARPA to continue supporting MasAgro’s work and its contribution to Mexico’s food security.
“We are very proud here at CIMMYT to have the support of SAGARPA and Mexico’s Agriculture Secretary for our work,” Kropff said. “We are the only international organization based in Mexico, and truly have such a strong relationship with our host country.”
Julie Borlaug (center) presents her grandfather’s Order of the Aztec Eagle award to Calzada Rovirosa (right) and Kropff (left).
At the close of the inauguration, Julie Borlaug, granddaughter of Norman Borlaug and associate director for external relations at the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture at Texas A&M University, presented the Secretary of Agriculture with her grandfather’s “Order of the Aztec Eagle” medal. The Aztec Eagle is the highest honor the government of Mexico awards to foreign citizens, and previous winners include Queen Elizabeth II and Nelson Mandela. Norman Borlaug received the medal in 1970 upon winning the first Nobel Peace Prize awarded for agriculture, putting CIMMYT and Mexico’s work to protect global food security in the international spotlight. The medal will be displayed at SAGARPA as part of the Borlaug exhibition. “The order of the Aztec Eagle was one of my grandfather’s greatest honors, and our family is happy to see it displayed here in Mexico for the first time,” she said. “We know that CIMMYT in Mexico will produce the next Norman—or Norma—Borlaug that will help feed the world. Thank you SAGARPA for your continued support.”
The event was also attended by the sub secretary of Agriculture, Jorge Narváez Narváez; sub secretary of rural development, Mely Romero Celis; attorney general of SAGARPA, Mireille Rocatti Velázquez; international affairs coordinator, Raúl Urteaga Trani; director general of Mexico’s Development Fund for Agriculture, Livestock, Forests and Fisheries, Juan Carlos Cortés García; as well as ambassadors and representatives of Australia, Georgia, Pakistan and Malaysia.
Members of the Malawi Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture and Food Security with smallholder farmers and extension workers admiring some of the drought tolerant maize varieties in Mangochi. Photo: Willie Kalumula/CIMMYT
LILONGWE, MALAWI – As an El Niño-induced drought continues to devastate southern African food crops, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) promoted drought-tolerant maize to Malawian politicians at a field day in April.
With more than half of Malawi’s population needing food relief due to drought, the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture and Food Security launched an assessment of the food situation across the country, which brought nine government officials to Mangochi District to learn about the impact drought-tolerant maize and climate-smart agriculture are having on the livelihoods of farmers.
Representatives of the Malawi Improved Seed Systems and Technologies (MISST) project, funded by USAID Feed the Future and implemented by CIMMYT, demonstrated positive yield results of drought-tolerant maize varieties to the nine politicians and to 314 smallholder farmers (202 of them women) in Minyanga village.
Politicians and farmers alike were impressed by the quality and yield of the CIMMYT-bred varieties in comparison to local varieties.
“In spite of the erratic and low rainfall received, we are surprised that the drought-tolerant maize varieties managed to produce large cobs,” said Mangochi Member of Parliament Lilian Patel, showing the maize cobs to other officials. “As an MP of this area, I am aware and scared by the scale, magnitude and impact of the drought in Malawi, but drought-tolerant maize varieties, alongside other technologies, have demonstrated that they are effective in coping with drought and climate change.”
Hannas Matola, field demonstration host farmer in Mangochi explaining some important attributes of drought tolerant maize varieties compared to the local varieties. Photo: Willie Kalumula/CIMMYT
Farmer Annas Matola, the host of the demonstration field, was equally impressed by the performance of drought-tolerant maize varieties, saying, “The different maize varieties showcased here are very unique in the way they cope with and withstand the drought experienced this year compared to the other maize varieties in the neighboring field.”
According to Felix Jumbe, chairperson of Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture and Food Security, the MISST project is a huge stepping stone for smallholder farmers in Malawi because it gives them the opportunity to use improved drought-tolerant varieties of different crops such as maize and legumes.
Malawi relies heavily on agriculture for its economic growth, with 80 percent of the country’s population engaged full-time in this activity. Over the next two years, CIMMYT hopes to put drought-tolerant and nutritious maize in the hands of 300,000 people in Malawi.
In April, Malawian President Peter Mutharika declared a state of disaster in Malawi as severe drought continued to cause a sharp decline in crop production across the country. The projected drop in maize harvest from last year’s output is estimated at 12 percent, according to the presidential statement, which also stated that, as a result, an estimated three million people are in need of urgent humanitarian food assistance.
The World Food Program (WFP) is currently assisting nearly three million people in 23 of Malawi’s 28 districts, which are badly affected. “The current drought situation in Malawi came on the back of a bad crop last year, due to flooding which affected parts of the country,‘’ said WFP’s southern Africa spokesperson David Orr.
The WFP warned in February that about 49 million people were at risk of being affected by drought in southern Africa, with 14 million already facing hunger in the region.
Erratic rainfall and record-breaking temperatures have already induced large-scale crop failures in most countries. South Africa has declared the recent drought its worst in at least 100 years, and will have to import half of the maize it consumes.
Drought occurs frequently in Malawi, especially in its drier parts, such as Balaka and Machinga, while in the Lower Shire districts of Chikhwawa and Nsanje, floods are a common occurrence affecting maize productivity and production. This, coupled with the effects of El Niño, led to heavy rains in northern Malawi during April, causing severe flooding and extensive damage to crops, infrastructure and property, as well as the death of 10 people.
Chaosu explains the operation and results of the Chinese-made Turbo Happy Seeder to an enthusiastic group of researchers and farmers at a conservation agriculture demonstration site near Santai, Mianyang, Sichuan Province. Photo: Jack McHugh/CIMMYT
CHENGDU, CHINA – The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), in collaboration with the Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Science (SAAS) is expanding conservation agriculture (CA) practices to promote sustainable intensification (SI) (i.e., agriculture aimed at enhancing the productivity of labor, land and capital) in China’s Sichuan Province.
Sustainable intensification can simultaneously address a number of pressing development objectives, including adapting production systems to climate change, sustainably managing land, soil, nutrient and water resources, improving food and nutrition security and ultimately reducing rural poverty. Zero tillage (ZT) minimizes soil disturbance, provides continual residue soil cover and includes crop rotations, all of which increases soil fertility and water use efficiency and helps cereal farmers sustain their crop yields over the long term.
As part of a joint CA project with CIMMYT, Tang Yonglu, Dean of the Crop Research Institute, SAAS, and his team have promoted sustainable mechanization and residue management, incorporated farmer input and hosted demonstrations in the rainfed regions of Sichuan. As a result, farmers from Mianyang District in Sichuan are now interested in ZT; a plan was thus put in place to build capacity and help farmers plant ZT maize and rice in May and June 2016.
Chaosu inspects an immature ZT wheat field affected by frost. This crop will be followed by ZT mechanically transplanted rice into the standing residue in late May. Previously, rice was manually transplanted by women following conventional inversion tillage. This new planting scheme tested by CIMMYT in Northwestern China will save 1-2 weeks and considerable input costs for the new ZT farmers in Southwest China. Photo: Jack McHugh/CIMMYT
At an annual SAAS-CIMMYT meeting, Tang’s team presented their findings on the effect soil compaction and waterlogging have on wheat production. Soil compaction occurs when random wheeling over cropping areas of farm vehicles, such as tractors and harvesters, packs the soil so tightly that soil conditions deteriorate, reducing crop yields. Waterlogging caused by flooding or intense rain on degraded soils also negatively affects yields.
At the meeting, CIMMYT proposed managing soil compaction through controlled traffic farming (CTF), an essential ZT practice that alleviates soil degradation. CTF permanently separates the crop area and the traffic lanes, thereby avoiding vehicle-induced soil compaction and improving and sustaining soil health. SAAS plans on implementing CTF as one tool in its sustainable intensification efforts.
During the two-day event, local researchers presented their academic and work reports and attended a field demonstration on advances in ZT mechanization; technical training sessions for farmers were also held. Other researchers addressed subjects such as soil health, weed control, sustainable techniques for rainfed wheat and mechanization techniques for rainfed maize.
Field demonstrations compared the performance of crops sown using locally produced one-pass planting machines and the Chinese made Turbo Happy Seeder. It was the first time participating researchers and farmers had seen a demonstration of the Happy Seeder. The Chinese seeder minimizes soil disturbance and uses devices that block residue, which makes it very useful for planting irrigated and rainfed crops when high levels of residue are maintained in the fields. For the locally produced machines to operate successfully, they require low levels of residue on the soil surface or that residues be incorporated into the soil.
Differences in planting machinery performance were difficult to discern in the wheat fields, due to yield losses across the region as a result of a very cold period in January. What was apparent was that while all the machines were equally effective in terms of crop establishment, there appeared to be slight differences in water stress in crops sown by the rotary till planter (high soil disturbance) and the non-rotary planter (low soil disturbance). This improvement in crop soil water was not lost on the participants as they strolled through the fields while listening to Li Chaosu, senior researcher at the Crop Research Institute, SAAS, explain the results.
CIMMYT SAAS collaboration is set to expand in the mountainous regions of Sichuan Province later this year, when new farmers come on board to implement ZT rice transplanting. The Green Farming Association, in collaboration with the local Agricultural Mechanization Bureau based in Santai, is also forging ahead with its conservation agriculture plans with CIMMYT’s guidance and support.
