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.

The first heat tolerant maize hybrids are licensed for deployment in Bangladesh, India and Nepal

Written by on September 17, 2015. Posted in Features.

Women farmers at a HTMA hybrid demonstration at Dumarawana village, Bara District, Nepal. Photo: NMRP, Rampur

The Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Bangladesh’s ACI Seeds, India’s Bihar Agricultural University, Sabor, and the University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur, Ajeet Seeds, and Nepal’s Hariyali Community Seeds and Sean Seeds are the first proud institutions/companies to receive a license for the deployment of heat tolerant maize hybrids. B.M. Prasanna, Director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program, formally presented the product licensing certificates to the heads/representatives of these organizations during the Heat Tolerant Maize for Asia (HTMA) project’s 3^rd Annual Progress Review and Planning Meeting held from 10-12 August 2015 in Hyderabad, India. Other project partners, including national program and seed companies from Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh, have shared their choice of hybrids, and asked to submit them for formal licencing. The hybrids were developed under the HTMA project funded by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the Feed the Future (FTF) initiative, a public-private alliance that targets resource-poor people of South Asia who face weather extremes and climate-change effects.Women farmers at a HTMA hybrid demonstration at Dumarawana village, Bara District, Nepal.

At the event’s inaugural session, Nora Lapitan, Senior Science Advisor, Bureau for Food Security, USAID, gave an update on the FTF initiative and highlighted its priorities, which include reducing poverty and malnutrition in children in target countries through accelerated inclusive agricultural growth and a high-quality diet. This was followed by an overview by B.M. Prasanna of the new CGIAR research program on Maize Agri-food system, its focus and priorities and the importance of stress-resilient maize in food security and livelihoods, especially in climate-change vulnerable regions, such as the Asian tropics.

The inaugural session was followed by technical sessions, during which Raman Babu, CIMMYT molecular maize breeder, M.T. Vinayan, CIMMYT maize stress specialist for South Asia, A.R. Sadananda, CIMMYT maize seed system specialist, and CIMMYT socioeconomist Christian Boeber presented their latest research results.

Mohammad Jalal Uddin, BARI Director of Research, receiving a licence for HTMA hybrid deployment from Prasanna. Photo: CIMMYT-India

Mohammad Jalal Uddin, BARI Director of Research, receiving a licence for HTMA hybrid deployment from Prasanna.P.H. Zaidi, HTMA project leader and senior maize physiologist at CIMMYT, described the progress achieved at the end of the project’s third year. Representatives from public and private sector partners presented the results of the HTMA trials conducted at their locations, and shared a list of top-ranking, best-bet heat-tolerant maize hybrids to take forward for large-scale testing and deployment. Collaborators from Pakistan’s Maize and Millet Research Institute (MMRI) and Bhutan’s Maize Program could not participate in the meeting but their progress reports were presented by K. Seetharam and Zaidi, respectively. It is quite impressive that within the first three years of the project, each partner has identified promising and unique maize hybrids suitable for their target markets/agro-ecologies.

Participants visited a demonstration of elite HTMA hybrids and their parents, where they observed the performance of their selected hybrids under Indian conditions. They were able to see the hybrids and their parents side by side, assess their performance and request seed of parental lines.

The project is also involved in capacity building, including providing support to a total of nine M.Sc./Ph.D. students, as well as workshops and in-country training courses in Nepal, Bangladesh and India, where over 100 researchers have been trained on developing stress resilient maize. In a special session dedicated to student research projects, four HTMA students, including Mahender Tripathi from Nepal, Ashraful Alam from Bangladesh and Akula Dinesh and C.N. Ranganath from India, presented their research projects.

The project’s progress was critically reviewed by the project steering committee (PSC) headed by Prasanna, who expressed great satisfaction with its overall progress and acheivements. Speaking for USAID, Lapitan said they are highly impressed with the progress of the HTMA project and consider it a model project. Other PSC members also expressed their satisfaction and agreed that the HTMA team deserves special appreciation for remarkable achievements within a period of just three years.

The HTMA project meeting was attended by program leaders, scientists and representatives from collaborating institutions in South Asia, including BARI, Nepal’s National Maize Research Program (NMRP) and two of India’s state agriculture universities. Seed companies operating in the region, including Pioneer Hi-bred, Kaveri Seeds and Ajeet Seeds from India, and Sean Seeds and Hariyali Community Seeds from Nepal, and international institutions such as Purdue University, USAID and CIMMYT also participated in the event.

The HTMA team at CIMMYT, Hyderabad, India. Photo: CIMMYT-India

Value of CGIAR wheat estimated at up to $3.8 billion a year, research shows

Written by on September 11, 2015. Posted in Features.

A field at El Batán research station. CIMMYT/Julie Mollins

SYDNEY, Australia (CIMMYT) – About 70 percent of spring bread and durum wheat varieties released globally over the 20-year period between 1994 and 2014 were bred or are derived from wheat lines developed by scientists working for the 15-member CGIAR consortium of agricultural researchers, according to new research.

Benefits of CGIAR wheat improvement research, conducted mainly by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), range from $2.8 billion to $3.8 billion a year, states a new policy brief, which highlights the economic benefits of international collaboration in wheat improvement research.

The research featured in the policy brief, which follows a series of global wheat impact assessments initiated by CIMMYT, was the focus of a keynote address at the 9^th International Wheat Conference (IWC), hosted in Sydney, Australia from September 20 to 25, 2015.

“The policy brief shows the vital contribution CGIAR and CIMMYT have played in delivering international public goods in the form of improved maize and wheat varieties for resource poor consumers,” said Hans Braun, director of CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program and the CGIAR Research Program (CRP) on Wheat.

“Values reflect the increasing use of high-yielding modern varieties on more land area and higher mean wheat prices during the period under review,” Braun said.

A primarily publicly funded breeding pipeline established by CIMMYT in the 1960s and 1970s to help stave off famine in Asia and other regions in the developing world, distributes about 600 elite lines a year worldwide through its international wheat improvement network.

About $30 million is invested in international wheat improvement research annually, mainly through publicly funded research conducted with CIMMYT, national partners, ICARDA and the Wheat CRP.

“Our findings indicate that international wheat improvement research continues to generate high returns,” Braun said.

“The influence of CIMMYT’s publicly funded research resounds throughout the developed world and in private industry. The private sector benefits from CIMMYT’s work, ultimately profiting from a trustworthy, streamlined wheat breeding system which eliminates the need for costly duplication of efforts.”

Globally, about 150 to 160 million tons of wheat are traded a year at a value of roughly $250 a ton.

“Agricultural sectors in wealthy donor countries also benefit from CIMMYT’s work,” said Martin Kropff, CIMMYT’s director general, referring to investment in research and development for the poor as a “triple win.”

“The effectiveness and the return on public sector investment are extremely high,” Kropff said. Investment leads to more food and income for the rural poor, lower prices for the urban poor and extra stability and income for farmers.”

Wheat currently provides 20 percent of calories and 20 percent of protein to the global human diet. However, in some countries, such as Afghanistan, wheat provides more than half the food supply.

By 2050, the current global population of 7.3 billion is projected to grow 33 percent to 9.7 billion, according to the United Nations. Demand for food, driven by population, demographic changes and increasing global wealth will rise more than 60 percent, according to a recent report from the Taskforce on Extreme Weather and Global Food System Resilience. This demand can only be met if global investments in wheat improvement are significantly increased.

Lantican, M.A., T.S. Payne, K Sonder, R. Singh, M. Van Ginkel, M. Braun, O. Erenstein and H.J. Braun. (in press). Impacts of International Wheat Improvement Research In the World, 1994-2014. Mexico, D.F.: CIMMYT

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Julie Mollins
News Editor & Media Manager
Global Wheat Program
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)
E-mail: j.mollins at cgiar.org
Skype: juliemollins
Twitter:@jmollins

Related Research:

Braidotti, Gio. The international nature of germplasm enhancement [online]. Partners in Research for Development, Nov 2013: 27-29. Availability:<http://search.informit.com.au/ ISSN: 1031-1009. [cited 08 Sep 15].

Brennan, John P. and Kathryn J. Quade. Evolving usage of materials from CIMMYT in developing Australian wheat varieties. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research, 2006, 57, 947-952.

A ‘double-hatted’ maize variety brings good tidings to farmers in western Kenya

Written by on September 3, 2015. Posted in Features.

double-hatted-picture Poor soil fertility is a major – yet often overlooked – factor affecting food production in Africa. Farmers suffer low yields and crop failure due to poor soils, a situation that has crippled food security for millions of smallholders in the continent.

For farmers like Mrs. Azbetta Ogembo, the challenge of poor soil fertility is common in her village in Kakamega County, western Kenya. To address this problem, she buys fertilizer every planting season to boost productivity. But for better yield, in addition to fertilizer, maize farmers are advised to use certified seed tailored for specific soils and agroecologies.
WH507-teaser_w
Yet when Azbetta received a maize variety called WH507 from the One Acre Fund to plant in preparation for the 2015 long rains, she was very skeptical. And why was this? “I had never used WH507 before. That is why I resisted planting the seed at the beginning. I was afraid of losing yields, which I depend on for food. I just did not know how this variety performs,” says Azbetta. This was her first time to see this variety, and with no one to attest its performance, Azbetta was simply not ready to risk losses from low yield after investing heavily on her farm.

Now, two months before she harvests her maize, the widow and mother of seven is elated. The first thing Azbetta noticed about WH507 is that it matures faster compared to other varieties she has used before. Furthermore, the plant has very strong stalk, good height and the cobs are big and full. This was a very pleasant surprise to her.

“I am certain of harvesting more than 150 kilograms from the two kilograms of seed I planted. I will definitely plant this maize on a bigger land in the next season since I’m assured of very good harvest for food and some extra to sell so I can raise money for my children’s school fees,” says Azbetta. She also plans to use the additional cash to purchase more seed and enough fertilizer for the next planting season.

The Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS) Project led by CIMMYT, supported the Western Seed Company – the sole distributor of WH507 – to produce parent seed for mass production because WH507 was found to be both nitrogen-use efficient (NUE) and drought-tolerant. This variety not only performs well during moderate drought, but also utilizes more efficiently the small amounts of fertilizers most farmers afford to apply to their maize, giving them higher grain yield compared to other varieties on the market.

Just as in Kenya, most soils in sub-Saharan Africa are nitrogen-deficient, yet nitrogen is one of the most important nutrients for plants. Many farmers in Kenya apply far less fertilizer than the recommended amounts because nitrogen fertilizers are costly. And even with subsidized prices, demand outstrips supply. But affordability is still the crunch, and not awareness – farmers know all too well the importance of applying fertilizers, but cannot afford to buy: for instance, Azbetta uses at most 100 kilograms of fertilizer for her three-acre land. She knows this is an under-dosage, but this is all she can. Farmers who cannot afford fertilizer use manure.

Science offers a partial solution at midpoint to beat the fertilizer crunch: “NUE maize is by no means a replacement for fertilizer. In fact, farmers who do not apply any fertilizers on their farms will not get as much yield as desired. What this variety simply does is it makes the most of what is made available to the soil by the farmers as dictated by their economic ability,” says Dr. Biswanath Das, a maize breeder at CIMMYT.

The Western Seed Company plans to produce 1,000 tonnes from the WH507 parent seed to increase its availability in the market for farmers to buy at the current market value of KES 410 (USD 4) per a two kilogram pack. “In 2015, we produced 150 tonnes of WH507 for selling mainly in Nyanza and western regions where we operate. This variety has become the first choice particularly in Nyanza creating a very big demand in this region because of its suitability in warm and humid areas. In western Kenya the demand is still low,” says Saleem Esmail, the Managing Director of Western Seed Company. The company is actively promoting the variety in western Kenya. “We conducted 1,200 demonstration plots during the short rains in 2014 to sensitize farmers on WH507,” adds Saleem. According to Saleem, the level of production depends on the farmers’ adoption and uptake of the seed, which determine how much of the seed will be produced.

Efforts to increase awareness on improved varieties like WH507 will remain key particularly in western Kenya to ensure that farmers like Azbetta enjoy good harvests to counter the economic and ecological constraints they face. Seed companies and agricultural extension systems can play a major role in creating this awareness, as well as promoting good agronomy practices including proper use of fertilizers.

AAA hybrids move towards commercialization

Written by on August 24, 2015. Posted in News.

PLC6 is a term used to refer to an advanced stage of hybrid testing at Syngenta, a partner of the Affordable, Accessible, Asian (AAA) Drought Tolerant Maize Project. Four hybrids, representing combinations of Syngenta and CIMMYT germplasm are currently at PLC6 in big plots at multiple locations. The trajectory of this process points to pilot marketing of a limited quantity of hybrid seed in 2016 and a full market launch in 2017.

AAA Drought Tolerant Maize Project Meeting, ICRISAT Campus, Hyderabad, India. 22-23 July 2015. Photo: P.S. Rao/ICRISAT

Four million hectares in India and Indonesia is the potential target area of this project. This translates to a market potential of about 80,000 metric tons of seed and offers the opportunity to address the needs of over five million households. In Indonesia, this primarily covers the island of Sulawesi and eastern Java province. In India, the targeted west central zone includes drought prone and tribal areas, a high risk environment where farmers require improved low-cost seed.

According to Syngenta, the region’s climate and other dynamics make seed marketing risky, unpredictable and unattractive, and is often overlooked by the private seed sector – exactly the kind of underserved area CIMMYT is mandated to target.

The AAA annual meeting was held at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) campus in Hyderabad, India on 22 and 23 July 2015. Members of the AAA team highlighted achievements over the past five years that ranged from identifying hybrid combinations, fast tracking them to deployment, developing new inbred lines, identifying molecular marker leads for grain yield under drought and for root traits, generating information on genomic selection and genome wide associations and building human, infrastructural, informatics and networking capacity. All this was done through an exploratory partnership model that included NARS partners (from Vietnam and Indonesia) in addition to Syngenta.

CIMMYT and the AAA team would like to thank the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture (SFSA), especially Mike Robinson, Chief Science Advisor and the mastermind behind this approach, for the support provided and for enabling such a collaborative opportunity.

Boosting nutrition for Ethiopian children

Written by on August 24, 2015. Posted in News.

During 26-28 March 2012, CIMMYT scientists, partners, and collaborators met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for the Inception Planning Workshop of the NuME project. NuME (Nutritious Maize for Ethiopia) is a new five-year USD 13 million project that aims to significantly reduce malnutrition, especially among young children, and increase food security and household income of resource-poor smallholder farmers in Ethiopia through the widespread adoption, production, and utilization of quality protein maize (QPM). QPM contains more than twice as much lysine and tryptophan as conventional maize, giving its protein a nutritive value that is roughly 90% that of milk.

The project, led by CIMMYT and supported by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), is being implemented in collaboration with the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), the Ministry of Health, the Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute (EHNRI), Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA), Sasakawa Global 2000 (SG2000), other NGOs, universities, and public and private seed companies. The purpose of the meeting was to present the approved project to partners; review, organize, and agree on the project’s management structure; review and agree on partner roles and responsibilities; and develop detailed work plans and budgets.

Project coordinator S. Twumasi-Afriyie gave an overview of the status of QPM in Ethiopia and pointed out that NuME was building on the achievements of the previous and largely successful CIDA-funded QPMD project that was implemented in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda during 2003-2010.

Underscoring NuME’s importance, Twumasi said that diets in eastern and central Africa are largely based on maize, for it provides up to 80% of the calories consumed and is a primary weaning food for children. However, it is poor in two essential amino acids, lysine and tryptophan, putting infants who consume maize without protein supplements at risk for malnutrition and stunted growth and development. The problem is more acute in Ethiopia, where 47% of children are stunted, 38% are underweight, and 11% suffer from wasting.

Consequently, the project has targeted areas with high maize production and consumption, areas where farmers grow BH660 or other conventional maize varieties that now have QPM versions, and most importantly, areas with high malnutrition, according to Hugo De Groote, CIMMYT socio-economist.

Andreas Oswald, SAA director of crop productivity enhancement, outlined the strategies planned for demonstrating new QPM technologies, improved crop management practices, and post-harvest handling and processing to farmers, and for improving their knowledge and skills. Increasing the participation of women in NuME activities and identifying ways to ensure that they benefit substantively from QPM technologies are key goals of the project.

The project will also partner with Farm Radio International (FRI), which will work with Ethiopian radio stations to develop a gender sensitive campaign to help women and men farmers gain a better understanding of nutrition and protein, and to raise awareness of QPM and other strategies for improving the nutrition and health of families, especially children.

Scientists and members of the international wheat community observe wheat trials in Obregon, Mexico, March 2015. (Photo: Julie Mollins/CIMMYT)

Wheat scientists urge funding boost after UK-U.S. food security report

Written by on August 21, 2015. Posted in News. 1 Comment on Wheat scientists urge funding boost after UK-U.S. food security report

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Food shortages will escalate due to climate change-related production shocks and the international community must prepare to respond to price increases and social unrest, particularly in less developed countries, cautioned a joint British-U.S. taskforce in a new report.

Instead of occurring once every hundred years, severe food production shocks are likely to occur once every 30 years by 2040, a problem compounded by global warming and increasing population, said the Taskforce on Extreme Weather and Global Food System Resilience.

“We agree with the premise of the report and the interventions recommended to improve the resilience of the global food system to the impact of climate shocks,” said Matthew Reynolds, a distinguished scientist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

“However, the report fails to address the urgent need for political will to make it happen,” Reynolds said. “It presents a paradox, given the relatively modest economic investments required to bolster long-term food security, compared to the costs not only of crisis management resulting from food shortages, but the incalculable cost of predicted food price-hikes to billions of people who already spend most of their income on food.”

For almost 50 years, CIMMYT and its sister CGIAR centers, which conduct research into agriculture and food security, have been building a vital infrastructure to reduce the risk of famine at a global level.

CIMMYT’s work on wheat was developed in the 1960s and 1970s, helping to avert widespread famine in Asia and other regions. The Mexico-based research center continues its mission to deliver international public goods in the form of improved maize and wheat varieties and cropping systems, focusing on resource poor consumers, particularly in climate vulnerable regions.

“We are slightly baffled,” Reynolds said. “The global food security system has been in a constant funding crisis since the end of the Cold War in 1991. Scientists are often overwhelmed by time-consuming, unrealistic demands to acquire funding, which limits time spent in the field conducting research. We’re hoping the report signals a renewed zeal for allocating funds destined specifically for agricultural research.”

FOOD SECURITY CONTRIBUTIONS

Scientific efforts at CGIAR have included producing heat and drought adapted cultivars of rice, wheat and maize, and disease and pest resistant crop cultivars for farmers who cannot afford protective, but costly, chemical applications.

Under the umbrella of the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative, scientists are working on a major project to avoid a global epidemic of swift-moving Ug99 stem rust wheat disease which, if left uncontrolled, could devastate productivity worldwide.

Under the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat, CIMMYT provided the groundwork for the recently launched $50 millionInternational Wheat Improvement Partnership (IWYP) initiative, which taps into the expertise of leading applied plant scientists worldwide to take wheat productivity to its maximum biological capacity within 25 years.

Similarly, more than 100 scientists representing 40 crop research institutes gathered at a recent meeting in Frankfurt, Germany, to develop a platform to translate decades of research in plant stress physiology and biotechnology into a new generation of wheat cultivars that will be productive under levels of heat and drought stress predicted by climate scientists.

The initiative, called the Heat and Drought Wheat Improvement Consortium (HeDWIC), involves applied plant scientists from all continents.

“HeDWIC scientists are eager to get started, they just need a ‘green light’ from funding agencies,” Reynolds said.

“Ultimately, food shortages could cause wide-spread disillusionment with current political and economic models and have other unpredictable consequences.”

The report, which was sponsored by Britain’s Global Food Security program and was jointly commissioned by the UK Science and Innovation Network and Foreign and Commonwealth Office, notes that agriculture faces a triple challenge.

“Increases in productivity, sustainability and resilience to climate change are required,” the report states, acknowledging that the effort “will require significant investment from the public and private sectors, as well as new cross-sector collaborations between scientists, agriculture, water and environmental specialists, technology providers, policymakers and civil engineers among others.”

Government of Zimbabwe and CIMMYT to establish maize lethal necrosis (MLN) quarantine facility at Mazowe

Written by on August 18, 2015. Posted in News.

A modern quarantine facility to safely import maize breeding materials to southern Africa, and to enable local institutions to proactively breed for resistance against Maize Lethal Necrosis (MLN) disease, will be established this year at Mazowe, just outside Harare in Zimbabwe.

The announcement was made on 3 August 2015 at the signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) between CIMMYT and the Government of Zimbabwe. Ringson Chitsiko, the Permanent Secretary of Agriculture, Mechanization and Irrigation Development, signed on behalf of the Government of Zimbabwe while BM Prasanna, Director of MAIZE CRP and CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program, represented CIMMYT.

“MLN is a reality that cannot be ignored. We have to work together to control its spread. We need to focus on finding practical solutions to tackle this complex challenge, including strengthening MLN disease diagnostic and surveillance capacity, while we continue with intensive inter-institutional efforts to develop and deploy improved maize varieties that incorporate MLN resistance. The commercial seed sector must also play a key role by producing and delivering MLN-free healthy seed to farmers,” said Prasanna during the MoA signing ceremony.

The MLN Quarantine Facility, the first of its kind in southern Africa, will be set up by CIMMYT before the end of this year at the Plant Quarantine Institute in Mazowe, Mashonaland Central Province, one of Zimbabwe’s important research facilities run by the Department of Research and Specialist Services (DR&SS).

MLN was first detected in Kenya’s Rift Valley region in September 2011, and has since been reported in Tanzania, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Ethiopia. It is caused by a double infection of maize plants by two viruses: maize chlorotic mottle virus and sugarcane mosaic virus. There is an urgent need to prevent the deadly disease from moving further south.

Prior to signing of the MoA, Joseph Made, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Agriculture, discussed with Prasanna and CIMMYT-Southern Africa Regional Office (CIMMYT-SARO) senior staff how to strengthen maize research and development in Zimbabwe. “The Government of Zimbabwe is honored to be selected to host the new facility, which is important for stopping the spread and impact of MLN,” said Made.

After the signing ceremony, BM Prasanna, MAIZE CRP Director, shakes hands with Ringson Chitsiko, the Permanent Secretary of Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Agriculture. Looking on, is Mulugetta Mekuria, CIMMYT-SARO Regional Representative. Photo: Johnson Siamachira

To strengthen the phytosanitary work at the MLN Quarantine Facility, CIMMYT will also offer capacity building to DR&SS researchers through trainings, technical assistance, and advisory services, according to Prasanna. “This MLN Quarantine Facility, and the collaborative efforts between institutions of the Government of Zimbabwe, especially DR&SS and CIMMYT-SARO, are key in our efforts to prevent the possible spread of MLN in Africa,” said Prasanna.

After the signing ceremony, officials from CIMMYT and DR&SS visited the site at the Plant Quarantine Institute at Mazowe where the MLN Quarantine Facility will be established, and discussed implementation arrangements, including steps for strengthening the national phytosanitary capacity.

Zimbabwe and CIMMYT to establish maize lethal necrosis quarantine facility

Written by on August 12, 2015. Posted in News.

After the signing ceremony, BM Prasanna, MAIZE CRP Director, shakes hands with Ringson Chitsiko, the Permanent Secretary of Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Agriculture. Looking on, is Mulugetta Mekuria, CIMMYT-SARO Regional Representative. Photo: Johnson Siamachira

MLN was first detected in Kenya’s Rift Valley region in September 2011, and has since been reported in Tanzania, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Ethiopia. It is caused by a double infection of maize plants by two viruses: maize chlorotic mottle virus and sugarcane mosaic virus. There is an urgent need to prevent the deadly disease from moving further south.

Mulugetta Mekuria, CIMMYT-SARO Regional Representative said that the new collaboration to set up the MLN Quarantine facility in Zimbabwe would further enrich the long-standing and successful partnership between CIMMYT-SARO and DR&SS.
After the signing ceremony, officials from CIMMYT and DR&SS visited the site at the Plant Quarantine Institute at Mazowe where the MLN Quarantine Facility will be established, and discussed implementation arrangements, including steps for strengthening the national phytosanitary capacity.

Government of Zimbabwe and CIMMYT to establish maize lethal necrosis quarantine facility at Mazowe

Written by on August 11, 2015. Posted in News.

QPM maize expected to improve protein intake in Ethiopia

Written by on August 3, 2015. Posted in News.

For community health extension workers (CHWs) in Ethiopia, as elsewhere, educating smallholder farmers on the importance of protein is a continuous task year in, year out. It’s not that farmers don’t know how important protein is. The big problem has been the availability of affordable protein that is within the reach of smallholder farmers. Now life is getting easier for CHWs in Ethiopia thanks to quality protein maize (QPM), a pioneering technology developed several decades ago by CIMMYT scientists. Read more here at CIMMYT’s Nutritious Maize for Ethiopia project page.

Climate change, maize production and food security in sub-Saharan Africa

Written by on August 3, 2015. Posted in News.

Although climate change is a global phenomenon, its impacts vary depending on region and season. To formulate appropriate adaptation options and ensure timely responses, we first need to better understand the potential impacts of climate change on maize yield and production, on different spatial and temporal scales.

To help fill this gap in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), a forthcoming article in the International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management titled “Maize systems under climate change in sub-Saharan Africa: Potential impacts on production and food security” (early edition available online) assesses the baseline impact of climate change in a business-as-usual scenario. The study indicates that maize production and food security in most parts of SSA are likely to be severely crippled by climate change, although the projected impacts will vary across countries and regions. Read more on CIMMYT’s website here.

Maize-based smallholder farming system in sub-Saharan Africa. Photo: Dagne Wegary/CIMMYT

CIMMYT-SARO steps up efforts in war against malnutrition

Written by on August 3, 2015. Posted in Features.

CIMMYT-Southern Africa Regional Office (CIMMYT-SARO) is stepping up efforts to combat malnutrition, especially among women and children, through agricultural research and the release of orange maize varieties.

Orange maize is nutritionally enhanced and provides higher levels of vitamin A than white maize. In addition, orange maize varieties are high-yielding, disease resistant and drought tolerant, which helps farmers face challenges posed by recurrent droughts and climate change.

CIMMYT-SARO maize breeder Thokozile Ndhlela (holding orange maize cob) explains to visiting delegates the importance of orange maize to nutrition. Photo: Johnson Siamachira/CIMMYT

“Orange maize rich in beta-carotene could bring positive benefits to maize-dependent communities, particularly women and children, by providing up to half of their daily vitamin A needs,” said Thokozile Ndhlela, CIMMYT-SARO maize breeder, who is working on the orange maize breeding project. According to Ndhlela, the project is conventionally breeding non-genetically modified orange maize to endow it with higher levels of beta-carotene. Beta-carotene is a naturally occurring plant pigment that the body converts into vitamin A.

Vitamin A deficiency is a serious health threat that is prevalent in Southern Africa (SA) and may lead to blindness, reduced disease immunity and other health problems. In Zambia, for example, it affects more than half of children under five years of age, according to a Feed the Future newsletter. Feed the Future is the US Government’s global hunger and food security initiative.

In neighboring Zimbabwe, one in every three children suffers from stunted growth (as much as 32%) or chronic malnutrition, which contributes to 12,000 deaths each year, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Malnutrition is most prevalent in Zimbabwe’s rural areas, which are home to over 75% of the country’s entire population (about 13 million).

While vitamin A is available from other food sources such as oranges, dark leafy vegetables and meat, these are not always available or are too expensive for the ordinary person in SA. As a result, most people eat a lot of white maize, which has no beta-carotene.

Orange maize can be eaten as a porridge-like staple food called nshima in Zambia and sadza in Zimbabwe. It can also be used to prepare other traditional foods made from maize.

CIMMYT is working with HarvestPlus, a CGIAR organization that breeds and disseminates micronutrient-rich staple food crops to reduce hidden hunger in malnourished populations. The orange maize project was initiated in Harare, Zimbabwe, in 2004, but later moved to Mexico. Since the subtropical environments in Mexico are similar to those in SA, the germplasm developed in Mexico has adapted well to SA environments.

Three hybrids (GV662A, GV664A, and GV665A) were extensively tested in Zambia and released by the Zambia Agricultural Research Institute in partnership with HarvestPlus. These hybrids have a yield potential of 9-11 tons per hectare. Hybrid GV665A will be released in Zimbabwe in October of this year. Three seed companies are marketing the released hybrids on an exclusive basis in Zambia and four other pre-release hybrids are being tested in national performance trials.

Since 2012, HarvestPlus has provided orange maize to more than 10,000 farming households in Zambia. It is working with the private sector to reach 100,000 farmers by the end of this year.

Zimbabwe’s Crop Breeding Institute has expressed an interest in sending two of these hybrids to the Seed Certifying Authority of Zimbabwe for quality testing during the 2015/2016 agricultural season. Malawi, another SA country, has also identified hybrids for release in 2016.

Seed improvement to prevent rust disease key to boosting wheat productivity

Written by on August 3, 2015. Posted in Features.

A new project in Ethiopia aims to improve the livelihoods of wheat farmers by encouraging the development and multiplication of high-yielding, rust-resistant bread and durum wheat varieties.

Photo: CIMMYT

High-quality seed is the key entry point for elevating farmer productivity in Ethiopia. As Norman Borlaug, the late Nobel Peace Prize laureate and wheat breeder who worked for many years with the International Center for Maize and Wheat Improvement (CIMMYT) wrote: “Rust never sleeps.”

Stem, leaf and yellow rusts choke nutrients and devastate wheat crops without recognition of political boundaries, making it essential that global action is taken to control all virulent strains of these devastating diseases to ensure food security.

At a recent workshop hosted by the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) in the capital, Addis Ababa, 150 participants from 24 organizations discussed the project, which builds upon the successes of a previous EIAR and International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) program funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Bekele Abeyo points out that high-quality seed is critical in Ethiopia. Photo: CIMMYT

The purpose of the March workshop titled “Seed Multiplication and Delivery of High-Yielding Rust-Resistant Bread and Durum Wheat Varieties to Ethiopian Farmers” was to launch the three-year seed project, which has a budget of $4.75 million, and strengthen the involvement of stakeholders and key partners.

Aims include enhancing rust disease surveillance, early warning and phenotyping; fast-track variety testing and pre-release seed multiplication; accelerating seed multiplication of durable rust-resistant wheat varieties; demonstrating and scaling up improved wheat varieties; and improving the linkages between small-scale durum wheat producers and agro-industries.

To achieve these goals EIAR, CIMMYT and the University of Minnesota will implement project activities in collaboration with other key Ethiopian stakeholders, including agricultural research centers, public and private seed enterprises, the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency, the Ethio-Italian Development Cooperation “Agricultural Value Chains Project in Oromia” and the Ethiopia Seed Producers Association.

The project covers 51 districts in four major wheat-growing regions of Ethiopia. Milestones include the following: reaching 164,000 households with direct access to the new technology and having more than 2 million households benefiting from indirect access to high-yielding rust resistant cultivars; wheat yield increases of 25 percent for farmers with access to rust-resistant seed varieties; training for about 5,000 agricultural experts, development agents, seed producers and model farmers; more than 50 percent of the wheat area being sown to cultivars with durable resistance to current rust threats; an increased number of seed growers and associations participating in accelerated seed multiplication; and the increased participation of women farmers to lead accelerated seed multiplication and scaling up.

All partners will be involved in close monitoring and working groups related to the project.

At the workshop, a key topic was emphasizing to farmers that they must avoid susceptible rust suckers as they are pumping more spores on cultivars under production, which is one reason for the recurrent epidemics of wheat rusts and break down of resistant genes.

Delegates also engaged in discussions on the importance of cropping systems and variety diversifications. Fruitful deliberations and interactions occurred and important feedback was captured for project implementation and to ensure successful results.

A previous workshop on the surveillance, early warning and phenotyping component of the project was held at the Cereal Disease Laboratory in Minnesota.

Bekele Abeyo is a CIMMYT senior scientist based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He will lead the seed improvement project.

Video: maize lethal necrosis threatens Africa’s food security

Written by on July 27, 2015. Posted in Features.

Felister Makini, KALRO (Crop System)

Maize, one of Africa’s most important food crops, is under real threat because of maize lethal necrosis (MLN). The disease has adversely affected maize fields in Kenya and its neighbors (DR Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan). There are fears that it is spreading rapidly across most maize-growing areas in the region, causing massive losses to both farmers and seed companies. Unless urgent measures are taken, it could get out of control and lead to a major food crisis in the region.

But what are the implications for farmers and seed companies currently bearing the brunt of MLN? This is a question that scientists, policy makers, regulators and seed companies tried to answer during the recently concluded International Conference on MLN Diagnostics and Management in Africa, held in Nairobi on 12-14 May 2015.

As you will see in this video, despite the grim realities of MLN, the ringing message to farmers from B.M. Prasanna, Global Maize Program Director, is “Hope, hope, hope!”

This message of optimism that a solution will be found was mirrored by others. “We will be successful; we should not feel defeated,” said Joe DeVries, Director of the Program for Africa Seed Systems in Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).

Other key speakers at the conference included Stephen Mugo, CIMMYT’s Regional Representative for Africa, Gary Atlin, Senior Program Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, George Bigirwa, AGRA’s Head of the Regional Team for East and Southern Africa, and Felister Makini, Deputy Director of Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research in charge of cropping systems.

View the full video of key speakers above or here.

“Our daily bread:” Maize farmers’ unwavering resolve despite poor harvests

Written by on July 23, 2015. Posted in Features.

Poor pickings: Peter Masaku’s premature maize crippled by poor rains. Photo: B. Wawa/CIMMYT

Peter Masaku walks through his farm with a far-away nostalgic look as if reminiscing about some distant good old days. His maize fields are strewn with rich residue, which to the eye indicates a possible bountiful harvest. That is until Peter, a father of six, tells of a huge loss in yields he and many other farmers in a village called Kambi Mawe, a Kiswahili name, which loosely translates into ‘Rocky Camp’, in sun-scorched eastern Kenya’s Makueni County have suffered in the just-ended long rains. “I harvested maize just enough to fill one wheel-barrow from my one-acre farm,” Peter laments, as he leads the way to show his meagre yield drying outside his store. “This maize cannot even feed my family for a month,” he adds.

A few meters away, another farmer, Jane Ndawa, observes that Kambi Mawe has not received a good harvest for two consecutive years due to very low and poorly distributed rains. However, she is yet to meet a single household in her village that does not eat maize in one form or another. “And when things are bad like this season, we have to buy maize and maize flour for our daily food,” asserts Jane. Farmers normally take some of their maize to the local mill to be processed into flour for home use. Jane adds, “Any help farmers can get to harvest more maize is most welcome, since we will keep planting it regardless of the yield because we need maize.”

Disturbingly, the trouble faced by these two farmers is all too common in most drought-prone areas in Kenya. However, the bigger problem is that farmers are not benefiting from improved drought-tolerant (DT) maize varieties that have been developed – and are in the market – for such ecological areas to help them get better yields in a bid to beat drought.

Like Peter, most farmers plant local varieties obtained from fellow farmers or recycled from saved seeds that are highly susceptible to drought. It is probable that the general lack of awareness about the improved DT varieties in the market is probably one of the biggest hindrances to maize production.

Through the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) Project, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT, by its Spanish acronym) and its partners have released 14 high-yielding drought-tolerant maize varieties in Kenya alone. These include hybrids that yield on average 49 percent more grain than open pollinated varieties on-farm, and 15 percent more than current commercial hybrids. However, these varieties are not reaching farmers in need. “It is not enough to just develop improved varieties, we have to go beyond this and work to promote and distribute widely the released varieties to ensure farmers know, access and cultivate the seeds,” says Tsedeke Abate, DTMA Project Leader.

The meagre maize harvest from Peter’s one-acre farm. Photo: B. Wawa/CIMMYT

Ngila Kimotho is the Managing Director of Dryland Seed Limited, – a major supplier of DT seeds in the eastern region. Mr Kimotho agrees that farmers are yet to fully adopt the available varieties stocked by the company. “It takes time to wean farmers off the local seeds they are used to, despite poor yields. Though some farmers are aware of the existence of the improved DT varieties, they are yet to start planting them, and one reason they give for this is that the improved seeds are too expensive,” observes Mr Kimotho.

CIMMYT’s new project, Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa Seed Scaling (DTMASS), is working with seed companies in seven target countries across eastern and southern Africa to increase awareness on DT maize varieties, and thereby increase both seed supply and demand by reaching as many farmers as possible. “CIMMYT has developed and tested excellent DT varieties over the last decade, but the seed alone is not enough. Our goal now is to get production up and running through local seed companies, raise awareness among farmers and help them find and afford these new seeds,” says Kate Fehlenberg, DTMASS Project Manager.

BMI Research, a UK-based agency that provides global markets analyses, estimates that Kenya’s maize production in 2014–2015 will be 2.9 million metric tonnes, while consumption is expected to be 3.8 million tonnes. Consequently, the expected demand for imports is 900,000 tonnes. These grim statistics will most likely remain static in the coming years if concerted efforts are not made to sensitize farmers and increase adoption of the DT maize varieties in drought-prone regions.

Such efforts will change the lot and lives of farmers such as Jane and Peter, who represent a large proportion of farmers in Kenya’s drylands, which are a large swathe of the country’s farmlands.