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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.

MasAgro impacts: four years harvesting sustainability in Mexico’s farmlands

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Luz Paola López, Sustainable Intensification Program for Latin America

The “Impactos #4MasAgro” communications campaign that CIMMYT’s Sustainable Intensification Program for Latin America conducted from 23 September-1 December in Mexico, published the results that the MasAgro initiative has obtained during the four years it has been operating in farmers’ fields in Mexico.

One of the campaign’s objectives was to promote MasAgro as an inclusive farm production model and position Mexico as a disseminator of agricultural technology that seeks to achieve global prosperity and food security. Among the impacts publicized in the campaign were:

  • The National Agricultural and Livestock Survey indicated that between 2012 and 2014, conservation agriculture increased by 12%, while crop rotation increased by 7.2%; both were actively promoted by MasAgro.
  • According to Mexico’s Agricultural and Livestock Information Service, in 2014 the average maize yield in temperate regions was 2.39 t/ha, while in MasAgro’s areas of influence, it was 4 t/ha.
  • The income of maize farmers who participate in MasAgro increased 9-31%, while wheat farmers’ income increased up to 25%.
  • Forty-two national seed companies that work with MasAgro Maize now hold 28% of the improved maize seed market.
  • MasAgro’s improved seed, technologies, and sustainable cropping practices have been adopted on 440,000 ha, and MasAgro has had indirect impact on 1 million ha through training, field events, etc.
  • Nine Mexican students have received scholarships and trained to obtain Ph.Ds. in wheat physiology at universities in Australia, Chile, the US, and the UK.
  • A Maize and Wheat Molecular Atlas has been developed that contains maps showing the characteristics (soil type, climate, and adaptation) of sites where native landraces have been collected, along with demographic information (race, use, and productivity), and space, time, and genetic distances.

The campaign became known in social networks through the hashtag #4MasAgro, which had 3,468,237 hits. We also used our own publications, such as the EnlACe Bulletin, which published 11 special issues, and MasAgro Móvil, which sent out 6,214 messages on impacts to its users. In addition, 34 articles were published in Mexican newspapers and news sites, 9 interviews were broadcast over the radio and 2 on television, with an estimated audience of 2,843,345.

There’s no doubt that the campaign’s success was due to the participation of MasAgro collaborators, given that institutions, farmers, scientists, and extension agents took up the messages and spread them through social networks, at meetings and other events. In conclusion, “Impactos #4MasAgro” is a great example of a team working to communicate agricultural innovations.

 

CIMMYT advances in fight against MLN

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Monica Mezzalama, Head of the CIMMYT’s Seed Health Unit, searches for MLN resistance in the Biosafety Lab at El Batán. Photo: Sam Storr/CIMMYT

Scientists have made progress in identifying maize varieties that could combat maize lethal necrosis (MLN) disease, reported SciDev.Net Sub-Saharan Africa last month in the article “Experts on track to create maize varieties to tame virus” by Robin Hammond.

The scientific news website reported from the International Conference on Diagnostics and Management of Maize Lethal Necrosis in Africa held in Nairobi, Kenya, 12-14 May. The conference discussed issues on diagnostics and management of the disease, which has wreaked havoc in East Africa since first reported in Kenya in 2011. Curbing the disease is imperative for improving food security in the region, making the development and deployment of new MLN-resistant maize varieties of the utmost importance.

“We have now identified promising lines with resistance to MLN,” announced CIMMYT maize breeder Yoseph Beyene.

Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) Project Leader Tsedeke Abate examines the impact of MLN on a seed production farm in Babati, Tanzania. Photo: Florence Sipalla/CIMMYT
Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) Project Leader Tsedeke Abate examines the impact of MLN on a seed production farm in Babati, Tanzania. Photo: Florence Sipalla/CIMMYT

B.M. Prasanna, Director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program (GMP), discussed the importance of improving MLN surveillance and diagnostic capacity throughout Africa in order to keep the virus from spreading through contaminated seeds. “Farmers also need to be sensitized on appropriate agronomic practices that reduce disease incidence and severity,” he added.

To learn more about CIMMYT’s comprehensive efforts to combat MLN both in the lab and the field, and the search for resistance, view the recently published article here on MAIZE.org.

Looking towards the future: Govaerts examines food security and nutrition in a changing world

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Bram Govaerts shares a quote from Dr. Norman Borlaug with the audience: “I personally cannot live comfortably in the midst of abject hunger and poverty and human misery, if I have the possibilities of—even in a modest way, with the help of my many scientific colleagues—of doing something about improving the lives of these many young children.” Photo: Jennifer Johnson

Bram Govaerts, associate director of the Global Conservation Agriculture Program (GCAP) and leader of the Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture (MasAgro) program, made a presentation on the future prognosis of food security and the actions that must be taken to achieve it at the Prospectiva del Mundo (World Prospective) Mexico 2015 conference on 25 June. The conference, organized by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and the Mexican chapter of the World Future Society, brought together national and international experts in fields such as development, education, finance and agriculture.

These experts were gathered in order to draft a “charter of human duties,” an initiative proposed by the late Nobel Laureate Jos Saramago, who believed that there was a global need for a charter that would define the responsibilities, not just the rights, that each human being has to the development of their surroundings. The charter will later be presented to the United Nations.

Govaerts co-presided over a panel on nutrition and food production alongside Fernando Soto Baquero, FAO representative in Mexico. The panelists were tasked to propose duties for the charter and to answer the question: “How can we improve food distribution in a way that does not harm consumers while maintaining a profitable industry?”

In his presentation, Govaerts highlighted the challenges facing food security in the coming years. “It is not just a question of producing more food, but of producing food that is more nutritious and affordable, with less impact on the environment,” said the recipient of the 2014 Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application. “We must end hidden hunger.”

He emphasized the necessity of using the genetic materials stored in CIMMYT’s gene banks to develop improved varieties, and to ensure that these varieties can be productively used by farmers. “CIMMYT is the home of one of the greatest jewels in the world: 130 thousand wheat accessions and 35 thousand maize accessions that represent the global biodiversity of these grains. However, if we don’t take advantage of our stored genetic material to create better varieties, our collection is nothing more than a refrigerator full of boxes.”

Govaerts proposed five duties for the charter of human obligations: investing  in research for sustainable rural development; giving priority to family farming and small and medium producers; more equal opportunity for farmers, especially women; sustainable intensification; and further developing market opportunities for producers. He ended his presentation with a call to action, urging the audience to take the world’s duty to agriculture to heart.

“We have a great challenge before us, and a great decision to make: we will need to feed 9 billion people in 2050, and we can either do it unsustainably or sustainably. There is a lot of potential in this room, but we cannot feed 9 billion people on potential alone. We need everyone’s help and actions, and I invite you to join us.”

Farmers bring a direct seeder/fertilizer to a field in Oaxaca, Mexico. Photo: Jelle Van Loon
Farmers bring a direct seeder/fertilizer to a field in Oaxaca, Mexico. Photo: Jelle Van Loon

Mexican leader expresses support for innovation and sustainable development

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CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff and Bram Govaerts, Associate Director of the Global Conservation Agriculture Program and Leader of MasAgro, meet with Senator Cota.
CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff and Bram Govaerts, Associate Director of the Global Conservation Agriculture Program and Leader of MasAgro, meet with Senator Cota.

As part of his plan for working with Mexico, CIMMYT’s host country, on 24 June Director General Martin Kropff held an introductory meeting with Senator Manuel Cota, leader of Mexico’s National Peasant Confederation (Confederación Nacional Campesina/CNC), an organization comprising more than five million smallholder farmers. Sustainable development and scientific innovation were some of the key issues discussed.

Senator Cota acknowledged CIMMYT’s importance and said that he and his group are proud that CIMMYT is headquartered in Mexico. He recounted CIMMYT’s history, mentioning that it was founded in Mexico during the administration of President Adolfo López Mateos, who left a historic legacy of worldwide significance.

“CIMMYT has the support of the association I represent and Mexican legislators are very sensitive to rural issues, so there is no doubt that they are extremely willing to collaborate with science to generate innovations that benefit the agricultural sector,” said Senator Cota.

Kropff said that it is most important to establish useful strategies that help farmers, and that it is essential to incorporate research and innovation into the seed sector and public and private organizations.

“Since my arrival, I’ve heard about CNC–CIMMYT collaboration, and I feel very grateful and recognize that it is essential to have the support of such an important organization,” said Kropff. “Furthermore, this recognition is international because it was due to the efforts of small-scale farmers that the Center received the 2014 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application as part of the World Food Prize”, concluded Kropff.

 

Vitamin A orange maize: a partnership between agriculture and nutrition bears fruit

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Guest blogger from HarvestPlus

Only 20 years ago, the idea that maize could reduce vitamin A deficiency (VAD) would have been summarily dismissed. Agricultural scientists were focused on increasing yields and developing more robust varieties that could withstand the constant assault of new pests and diseases. The idea of making maize and other staple food crops more nutritious by breeding in vitamins and minerals, a process called biofortification, was a novel concept. However, with the launch of HarvestPlus in 2003, a collaborative research partnership was launched to bring together scientists across disciplines in an effort to reduce hidden hunger caused by micronutrient deficiencies. One of the fruits of this partnership were the world’s first “orange” maize varieties rich in vitamin A. This ‘orange’ vitamin A maize has been conventionally bred to provide higher levels of provitamin A carotenoids, a naturally occurring plant pigment also found in many orange foods such as mangoes, carrots and pumpkins, that the body then converts into vitamin A.

I sat down with two of the scientists who have been integral to this global effort: CIMMYT’s Dr. Kevin Pixley, who led the first 10 years of HarvestPlus’ maize biofortification project while heading CIMMYT’s breeding program for vitamin A maize, and Dr. Fabiana Moura, a nutritionist with HarvestPlus who oversees all vitamin A-related research. The question on my mind was: what does it take for scientists to break out of their disciplinary strait jackets and to look at a food with a rich and storied history thorough a different lens?

Kevin PixleyKevin, where did the idea of making maize more nutritious come from?

Nearly a billion people eat maize as a staple food, and many of them are poor and malnourished. Maize is a great source of energy, but its protein is deficient in essential amino acids and crucial minerals and vitamins. Of course, everyone should eat a balanced, healthy diet, but poverty gets in the way. Chronic malnutrition is unacceptably common among some populations that depend heavily on staples such as maize in their diets and can’t afford more nutritious foods. Improving the nutritional quality of maize is a way to improve the health and livelihoods of many maize consumers.

Fabiana photoFabiana, why vitamin A in particular?

Vitamin A is essential for good vision, growth, and a healthy immune system. But, 190 million children under 5 and 19 million pregnant women are vitamin A deficient. To combat this, the World Health Organization recommends vitamin A supplementation in infants and children aged 6 months to 5 years, and the capsules are distributed every 6 months. The fix, however, is temporary. The improved vitamin A status lasts less than 2 months before wearing off, failing to cover the 6-month period. It is also not a sustainable strategy, with high costs that can affect its coverage.

Under this scenario, providing vitamin A through a typical diet is a more sustainable way to address the VAD problem. In countries like Zambia where people eat a lot of maize, orange maize could provide half of the daily vitamin A requirement. Safety is another important aspect. The provitamin A in the maize is converted to vitamin A in the body as it is needed. Supplements and fortified foods provide preformed vitamin A that, if ingested in higher doses, could cause toxicity because they accumulate.

Lastly, the orange maize will be eaten by the entire family. Women of childbearing age will enter pregnancy with a better vitamin A status and maintain this level during pregnancy. Newborns will receive the vitamin A from orange maize through their mothers’ breast milk. Everyone wins.

And, Kevin, what was the biggest challenge in breeding orange maize?

The first challenge was finding maize with high levels of provitamin A carotenoids for use in breeding efforts. They are found in a lot of foods but we had not looked in maize before.
We then needed the expertise of biochemists and geneticists to develop essential laboratory methods to precisely and affordably identify the few plants with the highest amounts of these desired carotenoids from among many thousands of plants created each year in the breeding projects at CIMMYT, IITA and elsewhere. As in every applied breeding program, orange maize breeders need to continually monitor, improve and combine dozens of characteristics – high yield, disease resistance, good food processing ability, taste, etc., into new varieties that farmers and consumers will prefer over those that they currently grow and eat. As we speak, CIMMYT, IITA and other maize breeders are working intensely to maintain a full “breeding pipeline” to continually improve upon current successes. Soon, there will be new varieties with 50% more provitamin A than those first commercialized 2-3 years ago. And there are varieties in the pipeline with double the amounts of provitamin A that will improve the nutrition and lives of farmers and consumers in decades to come.

What was the biggest challenge in working with someone from outside of your discipline?

Fabiana: Learning an entirely new vocabulary of OPVs [that’s open pollinated varieties], hybrids, etc. It was like learning a foreign language!
Kevin: My own ignorance about the complexities and importance of diverse disciplines to the success of our team; I’d never worked with nutritionists in plant breeding before. It is great fun and a big challenge to learn about other disciplines, especially human nutrition, food technology and public health, but also biochemistry, economics and even politics. A big challenge for the whole team was learning to trust the other disciplines to do their part of the job, knowing that every chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

Have any assumptions or perspectives that you had about the other discipline changed as a result of working together?

Fabiana: I learned that agriculture also faces some challenges. When planting maize for a feeding trial study I remember asking Kevin if he could assure us that there would not be major issues to deal with. His reply was, “there could be a pest infestation that has not happened for the past 20 years–so we cannot predict what might happen. We have had cases with typhoons that wiped out an entire field.” That was when we decided to have 2 two fields in 2 different provinces planted with vitamin A maize to ensure we would have enough material for the study.

Kevin: I always thought that nutrition was an exact science; I was very wrong! Nutrition is very complex; everything depends on multiple factors. Even the effectiveness of vitamin A maize depends on health status, age, other diet components, and many other factors.

Kevin, what changed about your own work as a result of working with nutritionists?

I had to accept that the goalposts would move. Many scientific assumptions fell away and were replaced with new ones. It continues to be an eye-opening experience because important discoveries are being made every year. There are many important factors to consider, e.g. which provitamin A carotenoids are most helpful nutritionally, which conversion factors must be applied when “translating” how much provitamin A content in the maize grain is needed to be useful for the consumer, how much of the provitamin A in the grain will be lost (degraded) when the maize is cooked, and more! These factors determine the amount and forms of provitamin A that we have to breed into the maize in order to improve nutrition when people cook and eat the crop.

My experiences working with nutritionists have broadened my vision about the role of plant breeding in agriculture for nutrition, health and improved livelihoods.

Fabiana, what evidence do we have that this works?

We know that the provitamin A from maize is efficiently absorbed and converted into vitamin A in the body. One study conducted in a rural setting in Africa showed that the vitamin A body stores of 5-7 year-old children improved when they ate orange maize—similar to the effect of vitamin A supplements. We also have some preliminary data demonstrating that children who ate orange maize for 6 months experienced improved capacity of the eye to adjust to dim light. That indicates an improvement in night vision, a function dependent on adequate levels of vitamin A in the body. Another study is looking at the impact of orange maize on the vitamin A status of lactating mothers and their breastfed children. In particular, we will learn how much the vitamin A contribution to the breastfed child will come through the breast milk of mothers who are fed the orange maize and how much will come from the orange maize itself that is fed directly to the children (only those above 6 months of age will be fed orange maize). All the studies cited above are using innovative and cutting edge technology applied in rural settings in Africa. They have been conducted in over 50 feeding sites and greatly facilitated by local people like Mrs. Donata Kalunga (standing next to me in the picture), who offered her school for disabled children as a kitchen and site for training and clinical assessment for the study. I’m optimistic that in the next year or two when we get the full results of ongoing studies, we will find that they reinforce the positive outcomes we’ve found so far.

————————————————————–
References:

WHO. Global prevalence of vitamin A deficiency in populations at risk 1995-2005. WHO Global Database on vitamin A Deficiency 2009.

WHO. Guideline: Vitamin A supplementation in infants and children 6-59 months of age. Geneva, World Health Organization, 2011.

Gannon et al. 2014. Biofortified orange maize is as efficacious as a vitamin A supplement in Zambian children even in the presence of high liver reserves of vitamin A: A community-based, randomized-placebo-controlled trial.

 

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Director General Martin Kropff on Science Week 2015: “Taking CIMMYT to the next level”

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During Science Week (15-18 June) held at CIMMYT headquarters in El Batán, Mexico, scientists from around the world gathered to share the successes and review the activities of different CIMMYT programs. Attendees sought to find solutions to help meet global food needs related to basic cereals, as well as combat poverty and face the challenges posed by climate change.

CIMMYT staff from around the world came together to discuss key points and identify new opportunities for improving work quality, learn-change processes, work plans for the coming decades and CIMMYT’s role in science and development.

“The main objective of this Science Week is to take CIMMYT to a higher level of quality and create more impacts,” said CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff, who welcomed scientists from all over the world. Kropff highlighted the importance of research to learn change processes for the next decades and reaffirm CIMMYT’s goals while interacting with external partners.

For Kropff, Science Week is an opportunity to develop better communication channels so that the ideas of all participants can help formulate a new strategy that fosters better cooperation among the different CIMMYT programs in order to achieve the best impacts.

Kropff also mentioned the importance of CIMMYT’s genetic breeding work, the work done in our germplasm banks and of strategies aimed at achieving sustainable intensification of cereal production worldwide.

Science Week 2015 participants at welcome and introduction ceremony. Photo: CIMMYT
Science Week 2015 participants at welcome and introduction ceremony. Photo: CIMMYT

“CIMMYT is a great institution and has grown very quickly, so it is necessary to put all our scientists to work and develop new plans, new projects and new ways of making future impacts,” said Kropff.

In his final remarks, the Director General said he was very happy to be part of CIMMYT because of the great scope for improvement that events like Science Week provide. “This is the best start one could have, to know all CIMMYT staff worldwide and that they know me, so we can communicate more openly,” Kropff said.

The race to feed the world by 2050: implications for international agricultural research

Written by Mike Listman on . Posted in Features.

The good news: by 2050, world population growth will likely fall to half or less the rate of 1.7% per year witnessed over the last half of the 20th century, offering a glimmer of hope for humanity to feed itself sustainably. More troubling though is that agricultural productivity growth is also slowing in many parts of the world, often because of declining investments in farm productivity-oriented research and political indifference. Which competing trend will win out in the end?

Attempting to answer this critical question and shed light on the causes, Philip G. Pardey, Professor of Science and Technology Policy, University of Minnesota, spoke to a global gathering of CIMMYT scientists in Mexico on 15 June. His presentation gave evidence and conclusions from recently published research1 to develop and apply the new “International Agricultural Prospects” model that projects global agricultural consumption and production to 2050.

Looking at U.S. trends over the 20th Century, Pardey said that agricultural productivity grew quickly until 1990 but the pace of growth slowed afterwards by more than half. “Data from 1910 show a curvilinear trend featuring a productivity surge in the 1950s-70s,” he explained. “This U.S. surge might be illustrative of a more general one-time phenomenon in many agricultural economies around the world. This includes widespread uptake of agricultural chemicals, improved seeds, fertilizer and other modern inputs, and a massive movement of labor out of the sector.” The implication, he said, was a need to double down on sustainable agricultural productivity growth including giving increased attention to research that maintains past productivity gains.

Other conclusions from Pardey included:

  • Think long-term: it takes decades to go from an idea to a commercialized farm technology.
  • The basic political economy is driving investments away from farm productivity.
  • Population and demographics are major determinants of the consumption of agricultural output.
  • Additional demand for biofuels may not have as dramatic an effect on food futures as some speculate.
  • Available agricultural land appears more than sufficient for the projected growth in food production.
presentation on international agriculturalprospects. To left, Director General Kropff live tweets event. Photo: CIMMYT
Science Week participants listen to Pardey’s presentation on international agricultural prospects. To left, Director General Kropff live tweets event. Photo: CIMMYT

Regarding consumption, the model factored in consumption of biofuels, human food and animal feed, while considering changes in population growth, per capita income, and demographics — most notably the aging of the planet’s population. “We expect worldwide average per capita incomes in 2050 to be at the levels of more prosperous countries in 2000, but with a big spread among regions of the world,” said Pardey. “There will be encouraging reductions in people below the poverty line, but major clusters of the poor will persist in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.” He also observed that increased life expectancies and numbers of the elderly in countries like China would reduce the demand for calories and change the structure of diets.

The driving factors used to forecast production included the pace of crop yield growth in different regions around the world, the location and availability of agricultural land, and its agro-ecological suitability for growing specific crops. “In the U.S., the ‘average’ maize plant has moved 279 kilometers north and 342 kilometers west since 1910,” he explained. “From 16 to 21 percent of the growth in U.S. maize output is attributable to this movement.”

[1] See A Bounds Analysis of World Food Futures: Global Agriculture Through to 2050 and The International Agricultural Prospects Model: Assessing Consumption and Production Futures Through 2050 (version 2.1).

Quality Protein Maize – what’s in a name?

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Across Ethiopia, farmers bring a different dimension to the age-old tradition of naming children in symbolic and meaningful ways, by assigning a human name to Quality Protein Maize (QPM) that reflects its importance. In some parts of Oromia region, QPM is known as Gabissa, meaning builder, because it is believed to build bodies and make people strong. In the Amhara region, it is known as ‘Almi Bekolo’ or ‘Gembi bekolo, both names meaning building the body.  QPM has gained its fame across Ethiopia, as an affordable and viable option to alleviate protein malnutrition and reduce animal feed costs thanks to the CIMMYT’s Nutritious Maize for Ethiopia (NuME) project and many national partners.

QPM looks and tastes the same as normal maize but contains up to twice as much of the essential amino acids, lysine and tryptophan. Eating QPM is beneficial for children who survive on a maize-dominated diet. According to a study in Food Policy children who consume QPM benefit from 12% increased weight and 9% increased height.

Commitment to the agriculture sector

Around 10% of the Ethiopian national budget has been allocated to agriculture, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. As a result, the agriculture sector, which accounts for roughly 43 per cent of overall GDP, has been registering steady progress over the past two decades, landing the country on a path to food security. A number of other measures have contributed to this success, such as the availability of fertilizer, improved seed and agricultural extension services, which have currently reached more than 8 million farmers.

A focus on nutrition security

The Ethiopian government is currently stepping up nutrition interventions targeting women and children, with aims for a 3% annual reduction in the number of stunted and underweight children, according to the Government’s five-year Growth and Transformation Plan. However, the fact that 2 out of every 5 children in Ethiopia are stunted and 28% of all child mortality in Ethiopia is associated with undernutrition or malnutrition, is a clear indication that a lot still needs to be done.

In Hawassa, southern Ethiopia, maize is eaten as corn bread, baked on a big clay plate. To ensure that QPM bread tastes as good as the conventional maize bread, NuME teamed up with two lecturers of the Hawassa University, Tafese and Debebe, who are organized taste tests. Photo: H. De Groote/CIMMYT
In Hawassa, southern Ethiopia, maize is eaten as corn bread, baked on a big clay plate. To ensure that QPM bread tastes as good as the conventional maize bread, NuME teamed up with two lecturers of the Hawassa University, Tafese and Debebe, who are organized taste tests. Photo: H. De Groote/CIMMYT

To tackle the challenge of malnutrition in Ethiopia, CIMMYT takes a holistic approach to QPM and conducts a range of activities including: improved crop management practices, post-harvest handling and processing, increasing the participation of women, nutrition campaigns, as well as strengthening institutional capacity. Since 2012, 143,747 farmers, extension workers and development officials (of which 28% are women) have attended 993 field demonstrations and 240 field days on QPM utilization.

Funded by the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, CIMMYT is working with the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, the Ministry of Agriculture and other partners to improve food and nutritional security in Ethiopian farming communities through the promotion and expansion of QPM backed by improved agronomic practices that increase productivity. NuME is building on the success of previous CIMMYT projects to bring QPM to rural maize producers in the Ethiopian maize belt and beyond where consumers, especially young children and women, are at risk of lysine deficiency.

The Skywalker Project: soaring to new heights

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Though its name implies science fiction, Skywalker’s results have been incredibly real. A small, unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with remote sensing devices, Skywalker flies over maize fields collecting images and data. It is able to measure several hundred plots in one take. Spectral reflectance and thermal imagery cameras on its wings allow scientists to conduct non-destructive screening of plant physiological properties such as crop growth and water use, at enough resolution to obtain information at plot level.

Under a competitive grant from the MAIZE CRP, the ‘Affordable Field Based HTPP’ or Skywalker project seeks to make state-of-the-art, but affordable, aerial phenotyping platforms available to National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) to develop new varieties that are tolerant to drought, heat and low nitrogen. It is being developed in collaboration by researchers from the University of Barcelona, Spain; Crop Breeding Institute (CBI), Zimbabwe; Instituto Nacional de Innovación Agraria, Peru; AirElectronics; and Sustainable Agricultural Institute of the High Research Council, Spain.

Charles Mutimaamba, Chief Research Officer and Maize Breeder at CBI and Collaborating Scientist with the Skywalker project, as well as Jill Cairns and Mainassara Zaman-Allah, CIMMYT maize physiologists, recently took the time to provide updates on the project’s challenges and successes thus far.

 

Q: Why was the Skywalker project initially developed?

Jill: The project was developed to bridge the gap between expensive phenotyping platforms being developed at agricultural research institutes and plant breeding institutes in regions of the world where increasing yields is critical for food security.

 

Q: What, in your opinion, are the project’s main achievements so far?

Mainassara: The development of an affordable phenotyping platform that is able to deliver spatial field variability and secondary trait data that can be used to increase breeding gains and enhance NARS awareness of the technological innovation opportunities for research and capacity building that can be gained by partnering with organizations such as CIMMYT.

 

Q: What has been the greatest challenge?

Charles: The multi-stakeholder involvement in the project has been a little challenging in terms of the geographical distances involved, but one benefit is that you get people with diverse skills involved.

 

Q: The CBI in Zimbabwe recently received the prestigious Robert Gabriel Mugabe Award for Outstanding Research. Did the Skywalker project contribute to this award?

Charles: Yes, it did. When we submitted our award nomination, one key activity that we mentioned was embracing and making use of the latest technologies available, specifically the Skywalker, to make our research more precise. The organizers took serious note of that.

 

Q: The project started out as a small pilot grant of the CRP, yet in just a few years, breeders’ interest in the project has greatly increased. What do you think caused this?

Mainassara: Several programs such as the Global Conservation Agriculture Program, visiting NARS from Zambia, private companies from South Africa and colleagues from India have expressed interest in the platform. Breeders are primarily focused on yields; they run many plots across multiple locations and require fast data turnaround for planning the next season. Therefore, they will only take up a new tool if it can reduce their workload and increase gains, and that is what Skywalker does.

 

Q: As a NARS, what do you believe has been the biggest benefit of partnering with the MAIZE CRP and with CIMMYT on the Skywalker project?

Charles: One big benefit has been the provision of resources, which for NARS can sometimes be a big challenge and serious problem. Then there are benefits from the CRP such as the opportunity to network with institutions such as the University of Barcelona and QuantaLab in Spain. Our view is that it has opened doors for us as an institution, which will allow us to strengthen our skills and expertise so that in the long run the project is sustainable.

 

Q: What do you see as the future of remote sensing technology such as the Skywalker in agriculture?

Jill: This technology has great potential to be used to curb the spread of maize lethal necrosis (MLN). Screening for MLN currently involves visual ratings of disease severity, which is time consuming and subjective. In addition, these measurements have to be taken many times in many fields over a short period of time. Based on the success of the Skywalker project, it was decided that remote sensing could be used to rapidly and quantitatively measure the severity of MLN symptoms in individual plots. The MAIZE CRP recognized phenotyping for MLN as a research gap and there is now a new MAIZE strategic grant to apply this technology in the development of MLN tolerant maize germplasm with the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization and the University of Barcelona.

Please click here for more information on the Skywalker and other aerial remote sensing devices.

Charles Mutimaamba, Chief Research Officer and Maize Breeder at the CBI, pauses for a photo with the Skywalker in a field. Photo: Thokozile Ndhlela
Charles Mutimaamba, Chief Research Officer and Maize Breeder at the CBI, pauses for a photo with the Skywalker in a field. Photo: Thokozile Ndhlela

First wheat improvement training course for young scientists held in Pakistan

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Hands-on field work. Photo: Monsif-ur-Rehman/CIMMYT
Hands-on field work. Photo: Monsif-ur-Rehman/CIMMYT

The Wheat Productivity Enhancement Program (WPEP) in Pakistan, led by CIMMYT and funded by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), is working to enhance and protect wheat productivity in Pakistan by supporting research leading to the identification, adoption and optimal agronomic management of new, high yielding, disease resistant wheat varieties.

The objective of the first Wheat Improvement Training Course, conducted from 1 March–24 April 2015, was to build the capacities of 20 early- and mid-career scientists and Ph.D. scholars from across Pakistan. Organized in collaboration with the Wheat Research Institute (WRI) and the Ayub Agricultural Research Institute (AARI) in Faisalabad, Punjab province, this unique learning opportunity included lectures, field demonstrations and lab work focusing on conventional and molecular breeding methodologies, plus wheat pathology, physiology and quality.

Participants visiting the food technology laboratories. Photo: Monsif-ur-Rehman/CIMMYT
Participants visiting the food technology laboratories. Photo: Monsif-ur-Rehman/CIMMYT

Another objective was to acquaint participants with new and improved wheat germplasm including both CIMMYT introductions and WRI local germplasm.
Specialists in wheat breeding, pathology, agronomy, physiology, statistics, entomology and quality shared their experiences with the participants, who also received hands-on training on emasculation and pollination procedures in wheat and barley; rust and Karnal bunt inoculation procedures in the field; varietal release procedures; the varietal release program; aphid identification; and rejection and selection criteria used in wheat trials.

The course was followed by a loose smut eradication campaign in AARI fields in Faisalabad, Punjab province. The participants also visited food technology laboratories where they observed various activities and equipment used for assessing protein and starch content, gluten tolerance and baking quality.

Maize lethal necrosis poses serious threat to East Africa’s seed sector

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The International Conference on MLN Diagnostics and Management in Africa, held on 12-14 May 2015 in Nairobi, Kenya, is the second meeting CIMMYT has organized this year on maize lethal necrosis (MLN), coming soon after an MLN diagnostics and screening workshop held in March. This points up how important the disease is to the entire CIMMYT fraternity in Africa.

Officials at the opening of the MLN international conference in Nairobi. Left to right: George Bigirwa (AGRA), Stephen Mugo (CIMMYT), Joe DeVries (AGRA), Felister Makini (KALRO) and Gary Atlin (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation). Photo: CIMMYT
Officials at the opening of the MLN international conference in Nairobi. Left to right: George Bigirwa (AGRA), Stephen Mugo (CIMMYT), Joe DeVries (AGRA), Felister Makini (KALRO) and Gary Atlin (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation). Photo: CIMMYT

The conference, organized jointly with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in collaboration with the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), brought together critical players in the maize sector, particularly seed companies, to discuss how to effectively control seed transmission of MLN pathogens by ensuring the production, distribution and cultivation of non-contaminated commercial seed, which is a major concern for CIMMYT.

B.M. Prasanna, Director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program, explained the urgency of this concerted effort, “This is a complex challenge that requires multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary synergies. It’s not just about developing and deploying MLN-resistant varieties, but also understanding how the disease is transmitted, the factors underlying its rapid spread and ways to control its spread to unaffected countries while limiting its damage.”

The role of seed companies in MLN-endemic countries of East Africa is particularly critical for limiting seed contamination and curbing further spread through infected seed. However, like farmers, seed companies are suffering massive production losses, increased production costs and reduced sales due to MLN. Therefore a balanced approach is very important.

CIMMYT and KALRO continue to support seed companies and national research programs by screening their germplasm at the MLN screening facility in Kenya. During the conference, seed company representatives visiting the facility were invited to send their germplasm for screening during the current cropping season. It is clear that seed companies need more support to train their staff to recognize early infection; they must also adopt best practices for monitoring, diagnosing and managing MLN.

Conference participants view experimental maize hybrids at the MLN screening facility with explanations from CIMMYT staff. Photo: CIMMYT
Conference participants view experimental maize hybrids at the MLN screening facility with explanations from CIMMYT staff. Photo: CIMMYT

Ongoing research to develop MLN-resistant varieties is at the core of the work CIMMYT does in Africa in close partnership with the public and private sectors, including seed companies.The Africa RISING Project and the CGIAR Research Program on MAIZE also support these efforts. However, there are no quick solutions, and developing and disseminating MLN-resistant maize varieties will take several years.

Two recent CIMMYT publications MLN Pathogen Diagnosis, MLN-free Seed Production and Safe Exchange to Non-Endemic Countries and Distribution and Impact of MLN in Kenya gave the participants very useful information and the best practices for managing MLN in both endemic and non-endemic countries. The latter, a study on MLN incidence, distribution, severity and impact in Kenya, gives a head start to future studies in endemic East African countries by helping to fill the current information gap.

During the conference, specific recommendations were made to prevent MLN spread, reduce virus infections and efficiently screen seed lots.

 

SAGARPA and CIMMYT aligning agendas for a great new vision on sustainable maize and wheat systems for improved livelihoods

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martinez and kropffTexcoco, Mexico, 11 June 2015.- Mexico’s Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA) and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) discussed today their continued commitment to Mexico’s food security and pledged to work together to raise Mexico’s self-sufficiency of cereal production to 75 percent by 2018. Enrique Martínez y Martínez, head of SAGARPA, and Martin Kropff, newly appointed director general at CIMMYT, held a meeting to discuss research and development priorities in the framework of their strategic collaboration. As an example of the collaboration the MasAgro project aims to boost maize productivity by promoting use of improved seeds and sustainable farming practices among Mexico’s smallholder farmers and how these past efforts can be improved for more impact that responds to real needs.

Secretary Martínez y Martínez acknowledged CIMMYT’s efforts in increasing maize and wheat productivity in Mexico and in the world but requested the non-profit international research organization to come up with new ideas to tackle food security challenges in Mexico within the new global context. President Peña Nieto pledged to increase spending in research to 1 percent of Mexico’s GDP. Current investment stands at 0.35 percent and SAGARPA counts on CIMMYT to help increase investment in agricultural research for development, Martínez said.

During the meeting, Martin Kropff restated CIMMYT’s commitment to Mexico’s development. “We strongly believe in public – private partnerships and want to help Mexico further strengthen its links with international research networks,” said Kropff who was Rector of Wageningen University, a world class agricultural higher education institution in the Netherlands, before recently joining CIMMYT. Research, however, should not be done for the sake of research but garantee impact and respond to demand-driven needs, agreed both leaders.

SAGARPA and CIMMYT agreed to work together to develop a yellow maize integrated seed sector in Mexico. The country is self-sufficient in white maize production but imports between 8 to 10 million tons of yellow maize to meet industry and livestock demand for yellow grain. Also a plan for a public-private investment platform in the wheat sector could jointly be developed through a bilateral working agenda.

The land that feeds us

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​The Land that Feeds Us: Growing Land Scarcity, the Borlaug Hypo​​thesis, and the Rise of Megafarms

by Derek Byerlee

​Visiting Scholar, Stanford University and Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University, United States

​Date: Monday, 1st June 2015

Time: 12:30-13:30hrs.

Venue: New Auditorium

 

Download Presentation

​

 

*The idea behind brown bag lunchtime seminars is to use the lunch break in everyone’s busy schedule to hold a brief exchange of ideas.

​The Land that Feeds Us: Growing Land Scarcity, the Borlaug Hypo​​thesis, and the Rise of Megafarms

by Derek Byerlee

​Visiting Scholar, Stanford University and Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University, United States

​Date: Monday, 1st June 2015

Time: 12:30-13:30hrs.

Venue: New Auditorium

 

Download Presentation

​

 

*The idea behind brown bag lunchtime seminars is to use the lunch break in everyone’s busy schedule to hold a brief exchange of ideas.

Farmers in India embrace high-zinc wheat for its nutritional benefits

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Under-nourishment affects some 795 million people worldwide. According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), more than one out of every nine people do not eat enough to lead healthy, active lives. Almost 780 million undernourished people live in developing countries, with about 94% in Asia and Africa, FAO reports.

Biohappiness: A happy farmer grows ZincShakti wheat on his farm in Uttar Pradesh, India. Photos: Nirmal Seeds, India
Biohappiness: A happy farmer grows ZincShakti wheat on his farm in Uttar Pradesh, India. Photos: Nirmal Seeds, India

But these statistics tell only part of the story. Two billion people around the world also suffer from micronutrient deficiency, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Also known as “hidden hunger,” micronutrient deficiency occurs when the food consumed by people does not provide enough vitamins and minerals. People in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa are hardest hit by hidden hunger, which is characterized by iron-deficiency anemia, and vitamin A and zinc deficiency.

Zinc is important for cellular growth, cellular differentiation and metabolism. Zinc deficiency, which affects about one-third of the global population, limits childhood growth and decreases resistance to infection. According to WHO, zinc supplements may help to improve linear growth of children under five years of age.

Tackling hidden hunger is the major focus of the HarvestPlus-led wheat biofortification breeding program at CIMMYT and its national program partners in South Asia. The main objective of the program is to develop and disseminate competitive wheat varieties with high grain zinc content and other essential agronomic features.

The biofortification breeding program introduces high zinc levels derived from the best sources (wild species and landraces) into adapted wheat backgrounds. The result is widely adapted, high yielding, high zinc varieties with durable disease resistance. These new varieties are 20-40% superior in grain zinc concentration and are agronomically on a par or superior to other wheat cultivars popular in South Asia. Research is also underway to transfer genomic regions into adapted backgrounds in a more precise and targeted manner, thus accelerating breeding efficiency, as well as to identify biofortified varieties for specific growing conditions in target countries.

Women farmers in field.
Women farmers involved in seed production and dissemination of high zinc varieties, along with Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and CIMMYT researchers.

Competitive high zinc wheat varieties have already been distributed to national program partners in South Asia to reach resource-poor smallholder farmers. In 2012, HarvestPlus devised a strategy with Banaras Hindu University and CIMMYT to reach thousands of wheat farmers with zinc-biofortified, disease resistant wheat in eastern Uttar Pradesh, India. Wheat productivity in this region is low compared to other parts of the country, which is why it was chosen to serve as a platform for testing and promoting high zinc wheat varieties.

After various demonstrations in 18 villages, many of the farmers became interested in adopting high zinc wheat. In 2013, seed mini-kits were distributed to farmers in the region and by 2014, more than 10,000 farmers had adopted high zinc wheat.

Public-private partnerships are contributing to fast-track commercialization. As a result, more than 50,000 farmers adopted zinc-biofortified wheat varieties during the 2015-2016 crop cycle. Farmers are happy with the “Zinc Shakthi” variety for its good performance, including a yield advantage of about 5-10% under both full and limited irrigation, as well as its grain size, cooking quality, grain color and overall appearance.

For development expert Paula Kantor, gender equality was crucial

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1400EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Paula Kantor had an exceptionally sharp, analytical mind and a deep understanding of how change can empower men and women to give them greater control over their own lives, helping them shape their future direction, said a former colleague.

Kantor, a gender and development specialist working with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), died tragically on May 13 at age 46, in the aftermath of a Taliban attack on the hotel where she was staying in Kabul, Afghanistan.

At the time, she was working on a new CIMMYT research project focused on understanding the role of gender in the livelihoods of people in major wheat-growing areas of Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Pakistan.

The aim of the three-year project, supported by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), is to find out how wheat research-and-development can contribute to gender equality in conservative contexts so that, in turn, gender equality can contribute more to overall development.

“Paula’s research was targeting a very large populace facing serious threats to both food security and gender equality,” said Lone Badstue, gender specialist at CIMMYT, an international research organization, which works to sustainably increase the productivity of maize and wheat to ensure global food security, improve livelihoods and reduce poverty.

“Paula had vast experience – she spent most of her working life in these contexts – in very patriarchal societies – and had a great love for the people living in these regions. She also had a deep understanding of what she felt needed to change so that both men and women could have a better chance to influence their own lives and choose their own path.”

Kantor, a U.S. citizen, was no stranger to Afghanistan. Several years before joining CIMMYT, she had been based in Kabul where she worked as director and manager of the gender and livelihoods research portfolios at the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU), an independent research agency, from 2008 to 2010.

The project Kantor was working on at the time of her death builds on the idea that research and development interventions should be informed by a socio-cultural understanding of context and local experience, Badstue said.

Ultimately, this approach lays the groundwork for a more effective, equitable development process with positive benefits for all, she added.

WHEAT AND GENDER

Globally, wheat is vital to food security, providing 20 percent of calories and protein consumed, research shows. In Afghanistan, wheat provides more than half of the food supply, based on a daily caloric intake of 2,500 calories, while in Pakistan wheat provides more than a third of food supply, and in Ethiopia it provides about 13 percent of calories, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Global Food Security Index. These data do not reflect gender disparity with regard to food access.

In Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Pakistan, the central role of wheat in providing food security makes it an important part of political stability. Overall, gender inequality and social disparities have a negative impact on general economic growth, development, food security and nutrition in much of the developing world, but particularly in these three countries, Badstue said.

Women make up between 32 to 45 percent of economically active people in agriculture in the three countries, which are classified by the U.N. Development Programme’s Gender Inequality Index in the “low human development” category.

Although women play a crucial role in farming and food production, they often face greater constraints in agricultural production than men, Badstue added.

Additionally, rural women are less likely than men to own land or livestock, adopt new technologies, access credit, financial services, or receive education or extension advice, according to the FAO.

Globally, if women had the same access to agricultural production resources as men, they could increase crop yields by up to 30 percent, which would raise total agricultural output in developing countries by as much as 4 percent, reducing the number of hungry people by up to 150 million or 17 percent, FAO statistics show.

“Addressing gender disparities between women and men farmers in the developing world offers significant development potential,” Badstue said.

“Improvements in gender equality often lead to enhanced economic efficiency and such other beneficial development outcomes as improved access to food, nutrition, and education in families.”

METICULOUS RESEARCHER

Paula was brilliant,” Badstue said. “She had a clear edge. She was someone who insisted on excellence methodologically and analytically. She was very well equipped to research issues in this context because of her extensive experience in Afghanistan, as well as her considerate and respectful manner.”

Kantor’s involvement in “Gennovate,” a collaborative, comparative research initiative by gender researchers from a series of international agricultural research centers, was also critical, Badstue said.

The group focuses on understanding gender norms and how they influence the ability of people to access, try out, adopt or adapt new agricultural technology. Kantor provided key analytical and theoretical guidance, inspiring the group to take action and ensure that Gennovate took hold.

Kantor’s work went beyond a focus on solving practical problems to explore underlying power differences within the family or at a local level.

“Agricultural technology that makes day-to-day work in the field easier is crucial, but if it doesn’t change your overall position, if it doesn’t give you a voice, then it changes an aspect of your life without addressing underlying power dynamics,” Badstue said.

“Paula was trying to facilitate lasting change – she wasn’t banging a particular agenda, trying to force people into a particular mind-set. She was really interested in finding the space for manoeuver and the agency of every individual to decide what direction to take in their own life. She was a humanist and highly respected throughout the gender-research community.”

Before joining CIMMYT, Kantor served as a senior gender scientist with the CGIAR’s WorldFish organization for three years from 2012. She also worked at the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) in Washington, D.C., developing intervention research programs in the area of gender and rural livelihoods, including a focus on gender and agricultural value chains.

A funeral mass will be held for Paula Kantor at 11 a.m. on June 11, 2015 at St Leo the Great Catholic Church in Winston Salem, North Carolina. 

CIMMYT will hold a memorial service for Paula Kantor on Friday, June 12, 2015 at 12:30 p.m. at its El Batan headquarters near Mexico City.