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.

AIP-CIMMYT Conducts the Largest Evaluation of Maize Germplasm in Pakistan’s History

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

While visiting AIP maize trials, Dr. Muhammad Azeem Khan, NARC Director General, discusses NARC’s seed road map. Photo: Salman Saleem/CIMMYT.

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s Agricultural Innovation Program (AIP) tested more than 700 diverse maize lines this past year, as part of its efforts to develop more affordable, well-adapted maize varieties. During two cropping seasons, 15 trials consisting of 680 diverse maize lines were conducted across Pakistan. AIP’s maize variety evaluation is the largest in the history of Pakistan, both in the number of varieties and of testing sites.

Compared to wheat, which has had a stronghold in Pakistan since the Green Revolution of the 1970s, maize development and deployment activities are rather recent. Production of maize, Pakistan’s third most important cereal crop, is projected to keep on increasing over the next several years. Despite growth, 85-90 percent of maize seed is imported hybrid seed, which means the seed price in Pakistan is very high compared to seed prices in other South Asian countries.

“The current seed price of US $6-8/kilogram is too expensive for resource-poor farmers to adopt improved varieties. That is why CIMMYT aggressively embarked on testing such a huge quantity of maize varieties. Pakistan is the new frontier for CIMMYT, and development interventions can have a quick impact,” said AbduRahman Beshir, CIMMYT’s Maize Improvement and Seed Systems Specialist.

At its recently held annual meeting (8-9 April 2015), the AIP-Maize Working Group invited public and private partners to share the field performance results of CIMMYT maize varieties introduced from Colombia, Mexico and Zimbabwe. Some of the entries evaluated during the 2014 spring and summer season outyielded the commercial check by more than 50 percent. Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan, Federal Minister of Food Security and Research, applauded AIP-Maize’s efforts after visiting the maize stall where AIP-Maize displayed a diversity of maize ears at a recent agricultural expo.

“Pakistan’s maize sector is being activated by AIP-Maize. Location testing followed by provision of parental lines for local seed production is the kind of support we need to have sustainable interventions,” said Shahid Masood, member (Plant Sciences) of the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) who presided over a maize working group with more than 45 participants.

Based on a seed delivery road map, CIMMYT has started allocating the best performing varieties to partners, with three varieties already included in Pakistan’s maize register. Imtiaz Muhammad, CIMMYT’s country representative in Pakistan and AIP project leader, urged participants in the maize working group meeting to fast-track the deployment of CIMMYT varieties and distribute seed to resource-poor farmers.

According to Beshir, Pakistan’s yearly bill for imported hybrid maize seed reached US $56 million during 2013/14, which makes maize the highest priced imported seed among all the cereals. “The foundation is now being laid to make Pakistan self-sufficient in maize seed,” he said.

AIP-Maize is currently working with nine public and nine private companies representing the diverse ecologies of Pakistan. The AIP-Maize network is a platform for data and knowledge sharing, which helps to create synergies among stakeholders.

Participants in the annual AIP-Maize Working Group meeting. Photo: Amina Nasim Khan/CIMMYT.

MLN diagnostics and management in Africa through multi-institutional synergies

Written by on May 9, 2015. Posted in News.

Maize Lethal Necrosis (MLN) disease has continued to wreak havoc on maize production in East Africa since it was first reported in Kenya in 2011, and since then reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, South Sudan and Uganda. The disease, caused by a combination of the Maize Chlorotic Mottle Virus (MCMV) and Sugarcane Mosaic Virus (SCMV), causes irreversible damage that kills maize plants before they can grow and yield grain. MLN pathogens can be transmitted not only by insect vectors but also through contaminated seed. The epidemic is exacerbated by lack of MLN-resistant maize varieties and year round cultivation of maize in many areas in eastern Africa, enabling the build-up of virus inoculum and allowing transmission via insect vectors. For this reason, CIMMYT scientists Monica Mezzalama, Biswanath Das, and B.M. Prasanna have developed a brochure “MLN Pathogen Diagnosis, MLN-free Seed Production and Safe Exchange to Non-Endemic Countries” for providing important information on these key areas to stakeholders, especially seed companies and regulatory agencies operating in both MLN-affected as well as MLN non-endemic countries.

“MLN is an increasing regional threat to food security in sub-Saharan Africa, and must be tackled with concerted effort from all actors in order to safeguard the maize seed sector and protect the livelihoods of smallholder farmers,” said Prasanna. The brochure proposes several key steps to curb the spread of MLN, through MLN diagnostics, production of MLN-free seed, and safe exchange to MLN-endemic countries. The brochure also advises on appropriate agronomic practices that can prevent disease incidence in seed production fields.

An International Conference on “MLN Diagnostics and Management in Africa” will be organized jointly by AGRA (Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa) and CIMMYT during 12-14 May in Nairobi, Kenya, in order to review the present status of MLN incidence and impacts in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), controlling seed transmission of MLN, managing seed production in MLN-endemic countries, creating awareness about MLN diagnostic protocols, and identifying ways to strengthen MLN diagnostics capacity in SSA, among other topics.

Maize lethal necrosis: a serious threat to food security in eastern Africa and beyond

Written by on May 7, 2015. Posted in Features.

MLN_WS_participants_w — Participants are shown how to inspect maize fields for MLN symptoms and how to collect samples for laboratory analysis.

Maize lethal necrosis (MLN) has rapidly emerged as one of the deadliest maize diseases in eastern Africa capable of causing complete yield loss under heavy disease pressure. This means that Kenya and neighboring countries which largely depend on maize as their main staple food and source of income are on the verge of a looming food and economic crisis.

The disease is difficult to control for two reasons: firstly, it is caused by a combination of viruses; secondly, it can be spread through seed and by insect vectors that may be carried by wind over long distances. Affected crops suffer various symptoms such as severe stunting, tassel abnormality, small ears with poor seed set, chlorotic leaf mottling, leaf necrosis and premature plant death.

Much more than CIMMYT and East Africa

Sixty phytosanitary regulators and seed industry scientists from 11 countries in eastern and southern Africa attended an MLN diagnostics and screening workshop from March 17–19, 2015, in Naivasha, Kenya. The objective of the workshop was to train scientists on the latest MLN diagnostics and screening methods and to share knowledge on how to control the spread of MLN. Besides DR Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania where the disease has been reported, other participants were from South Sudan and southern Africa (Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe) that have no confirmed cases of MLN, but where maize is an important crop.

CIMMYT organized the workshop in response to the high demand for development of appropriate diagnostics methods and harmonization of regional protocols. Hence, facilitation by agencies like the Food and Agricultural Organization provided a much-needed regional overview of the MLN threat, in addition to perspectives from the International Centre of Insect Physiology Ecology and the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services (KEPHIS) on MLN insect vectors and diagnostics methods respectively.

The workshop was conducted at the MLN screening facility in Naivasha, the largest of its kind established in response to the MLN outbreak in eastern Africa in 2013. It supports countries in the sub-Saharan region to screen seeds under artificial inoculation. The facility is managed jointly by the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) and CIMMYT, and was established with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Sygenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture. Biswanath Das, a maize breeder at CIMMYT, noted that “the site has evaluated more than 20,000 accessions since its inception in 2013 from over 15 multinational and national seed companies and national research programs.” This, he added, “has become a primary resource in the fight against MLN regionally.”

Collective pre-emptive actions for prevention: seeds of hope
Participants received hands-on training to identify symptoms of MLN-causing viruses and how to score disease severity by screening germplasm at the site. For some participants, this was a first. “This is my first time to see an MLN-infected plant. Now I understand the impact of MLN on maize production and the need to set up a seed regulatory facility. South Sudan has no laboratory to test planting materials. My first step will be to talk to my counterparts in the ministry to set up one,” said Taban James, a regulator from the Ministry of Agriculture in South Sudan.

CIMMYT staff demonstrate DAS–ELISA method used for detecting MLN-causing viruses.

The tragic reality is that almost all commercial maize varieties in East Africa are highly susceptible to MLN, based on evaluations done at the screening facility. Therefore, stronger diagnostic and sampling capacity at common border-points was agreed to be a key step towards controlling inadvertent introduction of MLN through contaminated seeds. This was particularly important for participants from southern Africa countries who noted an urgent need for surveillance at seed import ports and border areas to contain the spread.

Currently, Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe are the only countries that require imported seed to be certified as free of MLN-causing viruses. KEPHIS and CIMMYT have worked closely to restrict movement of germplasm from Kenya to countries in East Africa with reported MLN cases. Seed production fields are inspected thrice by KEPHIS, in addition to analysis of final seed lots. Plans are underway for CIMMYT in collaboration with the ministries of agriculture in Mexico and Zimbabwe to establish quarantine sites to ease germplasm movement in and out of these countries. Speaking on KEPHIS’ role, Francis Mwatuni, the officer-in-charge of Plant Quarantine and Biosecurity Station said, “We ensure all seed fields are inspected and samples tested for MLN resistance including local and imported seed lots from seed companies, to ensure that farmers get MLN-free seeds.”

The latest trends and options for diagnostics on MLN-causing viruses were covered as well, giving participants hands-on training using ELISA diagnostics systems. They were also briefed on polymerase chain reaction based diagnostics and the latest lateral flow diagnostic kits that are under development that will enable researchers to obtain diagnostic results in the field in minutes.

What next for MLN?
The rapid multiplication of the disease coupled with uncertainties over its spread is the biggest hurdle that scientists and other stakeholders are grappling with. KALRO Chief Researcher, Anne Wangai, who played a key role in discovering the disease in Kenya in 2011 observes that “The uncertainties over the transmission of MLN is a worrying phenomenon that requires stakeholders to urgently find a control point to manage and ensure seeds being given to farmers are MLN-free.”

Breeding remains a key component in the search for long-term solution for MLN, and several milestones have been covered to develop MLN-resistant varieties in East Africa. “CIMMYT has developed five hybrids with good MLN tolerance under artificial inoculation, which have either been released or recommended for release in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Thirteen hybrids are currently under national performance trials in the three countries,” noted Mosisa Regasa, a maize seed system specialist at CIMMYT. He further added that it is critical for the MLN-tolerant hybrids to also have other traits important to farmers, so farmers accept these new hybrids.

Open information sharing forums like the diagnostics workshop are an important step to raise awareness and seek solutions to manage the disease. Sharing best practice and lessons learnt in managing the disease are major steps towards curbing MLN. In pursuit of this end, a major international conference on MLN opens next week.

Links: Slides from the workshop | Workshop announcement |Open call for MLN screening – May 2015

Low-cost innovations to benefit smallholder farmers in Nepal

Written by on May 5, 2015. Posted in News.

A new investment by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia in Nepal (CSISA-NP) was launched on 10 April, 2015 at a public event in Kathmandu. The investment by USAID India and USAID Washington, totalling US$ 4 million over four years, aims to work with the private and public sectors to benefit smallholder farmers by integrating scale-appropriate mechanization technologies with resource conservation and management best practices.

“For a country where 75 percent of the population makes its livelihoods in agriculture, these partnerships are absolutely important. Agriculture development, as we know, is one of the surest routes out of poverty,” remarked Beth Dunford, Mission Director, USAID Nepal at the launch. Eight million Nepalis still live in extreme poverty and almost 3 million Nepalis live in recurring food insecurity. “We also know that growth tied to gains in agricultural productivity is up to three times more effective at raising the incomes of the poor than growth from any other sector,” Dunford added.

The new phase of CSISA-NP, an initiative led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), will build on successes and lessons learned from the ongoing work of CSISA Nepal, currently funded by USAID Nepal, and will continue to focus on districts in the mid-West and far-West regions of Nepal. It will complement USAID’s Feed the Future program, KISAN, which works to improve agricultural productivity and incomes for over one million Nepalis.

Beth Dunford, Mission Director, USAID Nepal, giving welcome remarks at the CSISA-NP new phase launch. Photo: Anuradha Dhar/CIMMYT — Beth Dunford, Mission Director, USAID Nepal, giving welcome remarks at the CSISA-NP
new phase launch. Photo: Anuradha Dhar/CIMMYT

The new workplan will be implemented in close collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Nepal Agricultural Research Council, to strengthen seed value chains for timely access to improved varieties by farmers, promote sustainable intensification of agricultural systems through increasing lentil cultivation and better-bet management, increase wheat productivity using new technologies and better farming practices and facilitate precise and effective use of nutrients to increase crop yield.

A specific component of the new investment is designed to support and build the capacity of change agents like medium-sized seed companies, agro‐dealers and mechanized service providers. “Building on its success of working with the Indian private sector, CSISA will expand the program in Nepal to facilitate application of specialized, commercially-viable equipment for small and marginal farmers,” highlighted Bahiru Duguma, Director, Food Security Office, USAID India.

“CSISA supports more than 1,600 service providers in eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in India and we want to replicate that success in Nepal of working with local entrepreneurs to help reach farmers with mechanized technologies,” said Andrew McDonald, CSISA Project Leader.

Rajendra Prasad Adhikari, Joint Secretary, Policy and International Cooperation Co-ordination Division, Ministry of Agricultural Development welcomed this initiative and said that this launch is very timely as the agricultural ministry has just developed and endorsed an agricultural mechanization promotion policy and the Nepal Agricultural Development Strategy is in its final shape.

The launch was well attended by representatives from the Nepal Ministry of Agriculture, Nepal Agricultural Research Council, Agriculture and Forestry University and USAID officials and received positive media coverage in Nepal.

World Food Prize laureate Rajaram honored at World Food Forum

Written by on April 28, 2015. Posted in News.

From right to left: Alejandro Violic, retired CIMMYT training specialist, Sanjaya Rajaram and Juan Izquierdo, FAO consultant. Photo: Juan Izquierdo, FAO consultant

Sanjaya Rajaram, recipient of the 2014 World Food Prize, told more than 200 participants at the World Food Forum in Santiago, Chile, on 14 April, that he held hopes for a “second Green Revolution.”

Speaking to an audience that included the Chilean Minister of Agriculture, Carlos Furche Guajardo, Rajaram talked about feeding the world’s growing population and the challenges that farmers face to achieve this, which include rising temperatures and more extreme and erratic rainfall. Rajaram emphasized the importance of small-scale agriculture, genetically-modified crops and biofortified crop varieties to provide more nutritious food.

The event included a special recognition for Rajaram’s outstanding work at CIMMYT, along with Dr. Norman Borlaug, to develop more than 500 wheat varieties.

The Forum was organized by CROPLIFE,whose members include Dow, FMC, DuPont, BASF, Bayer, Monsanto, Syngenta and Arista.

Maize workshop sets stage for doubling production in India by 2025

Written by on April 28, 2015. Posted in News.

The 58^th All India Coordinated Annual Maize Workshop was held at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) in Ludhiana, India during 4-6 April. The workshop brought together nearly 200 scientists in India working on maize research and development, as well as representatives from seed companies. The All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) on Maize was the first crop research project established in India in 1957 and served as a model for all following crop projects in the country.

Felicitation of B.M. Prasanna during the 58th All India Coordinated Maize Workshop (from right to left: J.S. Sandhu, A.S. Khehra, Gurbachan Singh, B.S. Dhillon, B.M. Prasanna and H.S. Dhaliwal). Photos: J.S. Chasms.

“We need to double maize production and productivity in India through multi-institutional, multi-pronged strategies,” said B.M. Prasanna, director of CIMMYT’s global maize program, during the workshop’s keynote lecture. He went on to explain how “this can be achieved through germplasm enhancement, broadening the phenotyping scale and precision and accelerating breeding through doubled haploid technology, among other improved technologies and management practices.”

“The partnership between the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and CIMMYT over the last several decades has benefited the Indian breeding program immensely, from providing germplasm to receiving support for human resource development,” said O.P. Yadav, Director of the Indian Institute of Maize Research (IIMR). Yadav presented AICRP-Maize’s 2014 achievements, such as the release of 17 new varieties and national maize production reaching its highest level (24 million tons).

A panel discussion co-chaired by Prasanna and J.S. Sandhu, Deputy Director General-Crop Science at ICAR, entitled “Doubling maize production in India by 2025: Opportunities and Challenges” drew representatives from several public and private institutions working on maize. Prasanna and A.S. Khehra, former PAU Vice-Chancellor, were congratulated for their outstanding achievements in maize research, including the release of several improved maize varieties and advances in genetics and molecular breeding.

Inaugural function of the 58th All India Coordinated Maize Workshop (from left to right: H.S. Dhaliwal, O.P. Yadav, A.S. Khehra, J.S. Sandhu, Gurbachan Singh, B.S. Dhillon, S.K. Sharma, I.S. Solanki and B. Singh.)

“Genetic gains must also translate to yield gains in farmers’ fields,” Prasanna declared. “We must effectively integrate improved varieties that meet the needs of farming communities with sustainable intensification practices.”

The workshop closed with an overview of achievements and finalization of a 2015 work plan, with scientists from AICRP-Maize Centres and CIMMYT providing input. Also in attendance were Gurbachan Singh, Chairman of India’s Agricultural Service Recruitment Board; BS Dhillon, Vice-Chancellor of PAU; SK Sharma, Chairman of IIMR’s Research and Advisory Committee; IS Solanki, Assistant Director of ICAR’s General-Food Crops; and S.K. Vasal, retired CIMMYT Distinguished Scientist.

Ethiopian seed companies express interest in QPM, seek CIMMYT support

Written by on April 28, 2015. Posted in News.

QPM seed production management training in progress. Photos: S. Mahifere/CIMMYT

Managers of private and public seed companies in Ethiopia have expressed interest to produce and broadly market quality protein maize (QPM) seed, provided that they get technical and other necessary support from the Nutritious Maize for Ethiopia (NuME) project.

The managers attended a three-day workshop on Seed Business Management organized by NuME from March 23–25 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The training was aimed at improving the capacity of seed companies to produce QPM seed at the required quantity and quality for the sustainable adoption of QPM.

Ms. Elsa Asfaha (right), Manager, Alamata Agroprocessing, receives her certificate from Tafesse Gebru (middle), the Chief Executive Officer of the Ethiopian Seed Enterprise, while Adefris Teklewold (left), NuME project leader, looks on.

In his keynote address, Dr. Adugna Wakjira, the Deputy Director General of the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, noted that “many challenges are involved in seed production and delivery systems and it is thus critical that seed companies, both public and private, enhance their capacities to engage in the QPM value chain.”

Adefris Teklewold, NuME project leader, briefed participants about the project and its many accomplishments so far and pledged that “NuME will do all it can to address challenges faced by seed companies in producing QPM seed.”

“All issues and concerns in the seed value chain need to be considered, including seed quality, branding as well as maize lethal necrosis,” Adefris noted.

Making more from less: matchmaking maize to poor soils

Written by on April 21, 2015. Posted in Features.

WHEN FERTILIZER IS LIMITED, BREEDING SOLUTIONS FOR THE STAFF OF LIFE IN AFRICA

A farmer applying a solution only very few can afford in adequate amounts: nitrogen fertilisers for poor soils in Africa

Among the major crops produced and consumed in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), maize leads, consumed by more than 650 million Africans. Therefore, maize and Africa’s food security and socioeconomic stability are inseparably intertwined. Poor maize productivity has contributed to food shortages, high prices and has pushed more Africans to extreme poverty. Low-fertility soils are part of the problem, and maize varieties specially bred for poor soils offer a partial solution.

Maize and Soil—Chemical Solution, Socioeconomic Problem, Nitrogen in Sips Not Gulps
After water, poor soil nitrogen is the single most critical constraint for Africa’s maize production. Lack of, or inadequate, soil nitrogen leads to low yields and crop failure. Farmers therefore need nitrogen fertilizers to improve yields when soils are depleted or infertile. However, for most smallholder farmers, the harsh reality is that chemical fertilizers—or adequate amounts of them—remain out of their reach, unaffordable owing to the high costs.

To address this, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and its partners are working through the Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS) Project to develop maize varieties that are more efficient at using the small quantities of fertilizer that smallholder farmers can afford, typically less than 30 kilograms per hectare. This means that farmers obtain up to 50 percent more from the limited fertilizer applied.

From problems to solutions: everybody wins!
IMAS focuses on improving the genetics of maize varieties to better match the typical soil profiles of smallholder maize farms in eastern and southern Africa. Different maize varieties respond very differently to soil nitrogen stress. ‘In complement to improved agronomy and soil management, selection of appropriate maize varieties for specific soil conditions can play an enormous role in improving productivity and food security in Africa,’ observes Biswanath Das, a maize breeder at CIMMYT. By packaging nitrogen-use efficiency in the seed, IMAS hopes to improve maize yields efficiently and economically for small holder farmers in Africa.

At this year’s Global Soil Week (GSW) running from April 19–23 in Berlin, Germany, it is important that tangible solutions be formulated for farmers to nurture and sustain healthier soils. Engagement and dialogue forums like GSW and the recent #TalkSoil tweet chat initiated by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture and Shamba Shape Up (a Kenyan television show targeting smallholder farmers) are critical for inclusive discussions to help farmers in Africa.

Such dialogues must continue throughout 2015—the UN International Year of Soils—but also beyond. Why? Because soil is the staff of life, and the Substance of Transformation, as the Global Soil Week theme this year reminds us.

Links

IMAS messages for Global Soil Week and International Year of Soils | Press release
More on the IMAS project
Videos: Maize for hungry soils | Maize that thrives in poor soils
2015 International Year of Soils | Global Soil Week

The journey of a seed

Written by on April 16, 2015. Posted in Features.

CIMMYT Day activities included a session on seed preparation and distribution, including standard procedures of CIMMYT’s Seed Inspection and Distribution Unit (SIDU), which shipped over 45 tons of seed in the last year.

Preparing seed for distribution is a multi-step process. First, the seed must undergo rigorous testing in CIMMYT’s Seed Health Laboratory (SHL). This testing ensures that seed distributed by CIMMYT is disease free, and of exceptional quality. Once the seed is approved, it is then prepared for distribution.

Before packing, the seed is washed in a sterilizing solution in preparation for its treatment. For maize, the treatment consists of both a fungicide and an insecticide, which prepare the seeds to thrive under diverse environmental conditions. For wheat, the treatment is just a fungicide. Once the seeds have been treated and dried, they are ready to be packaged for shipment.

The next step in the seed preparation process consists of labeling and packaging. Machines automatically print the packet labels and measure the seed required for each package. Maize seeds are counted individually with a counting machine (pictured), wheat seeds are measured by weight.

Next, boxes containing the seed packets, legal paperwork and field books are prepared. According to Efren Rodriguez, Head of Data Processing and Seed Distribution, field books are the “gold” that CIMMYT reaps through its efforts. CIMMYT requests that seed recipients utilize the field books to record data, which helps CIMMYT to continuously better the quality of its seeds.

CIMMYT Day gives staff opportunity to explore colleagues’ work

Written by on April 16, 2015. Posted in News.

Comprising interactive presentations in English and Spanish on diverse aspects of the Center’s work, CIMMYT Day at El Batán on 10 April allowed more than 250 staff members to learn more about the science and get a first-hand understanding of CIMMYT activities and impact.

Thomas Lumpkin, CIMMYT director general, and John Snape, Chair of the Board of Trustees, welcomed participants. Snape presented Lumpkin, who will leave CIMMYT in June, with a miniature statue of Dr. Norman Borlaug, in honor of his humanitarian spirit and commitment to developing world farmers.

The tours began with wheat physiologist Matthew Reynolds explaining how this specialty contributes to improve wheat, elucidating wheat production environments and how they affect wheat, sources of useful new traits and the challenges of measuring and working with these traits. At the conservation agriculture experiment, Nele Verhulst, strategic research coordinator for this discipline in Latin America, astounded visitors by describing the yield increases possible through proper application of conservation agriculture’s three principles: reduced tillage, keeping crop residues on the soil, and careful use of crop rotations. In particular, the removal vs the retention of residues under zero tillage provided dramatic differences of 5.7 vs 7.9 tons per hectare (t/ha), respectively, with good rainfall, and of 3.6 vs 7.4 t/ha in drought years, due to the superior capture and retention of moisture on untilled soils with residues.

Jelle Van Loon, leader of machinery innovation and smart mechanization, demonstrated implements specially adapted for conservation agriculture, explaining that all are multi-use and multi-crop, to be most useful to farmers. Biosciences Greenhouse Laboratory Manager Ulises Gaona Ramírez demonstrated how to “separate the wheat from the chaff” using various methods, and gave everyone the opportunity to plant their very own wheat plant, which they were allowed to take home as a living souvenir. From there, participants visited the wheat and maize quality laboratories. Carlos Guzmán, head of the wheat quality laboratory, and Hector González, principal research assistant, explained the characteristics of different types of wheat used to create different food products, while Natalia Palacios, maize nutrition quality specialist, discussed the use of different maize varieties to make tortillas, the staple food of Mexico.

The day finished with a visit to the CIMMYT Germplasm Bank, during with Denise Costich, head of the maize germplasm bank, and Thomas Payne, head of the wheat germplasm bank, talked about their respective areas and led tours of the actual seed collections inside the Bank chamber, with support for Spanish-speaking visitors from Bibiana Espinosa, Paulina González and Martín Rodríguez.

Celebrating CIMMYT: what will the next 50 years hold?

Written by on April 16, 2015. Posted in Features.

CIMMYT_Ceremony_1 — Photo credit: CIMMYT

A year of celebrations in honor of Dr. Norman Borlaug’s birth centennial was officially closed last Thursday 9 April in a ceremony at CIMMYT headquarters in Mexico.

“If he (my father) were here,” said Jeanie Borlaug Laube, who chairs the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative, “he would remind you that it is your moral imperative to speak up and protest for the world’s right to science-based innovation.” She was addressing an audience of government representatives, private sector partners, researchers, CIMMYT trustees, and diplomats including the Australian and Belgian ambassadors to Mexico.

The occasion also marked the celebration of a double achievement for CIMMYT: the 2014 World Food Prize being awarded to Dr. Sanjaya Rajaram, former global wheat program director, and the 2014 Borlaug Field Award to Dr. Bram Govaerts, leader of the Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture (MasAgro) project.

During his distinguished career, Rajaram led work that resulted in the release of more than “480 varieties of bread wheat in 51 countries, occupying more than 58 million hectares,” said Prof. John Snape, Chair of CIMMYT’s Board of Trustees. “A feat unlikely to ever be surpassed by another wheat breeder.”

Rajaram’s merits were also recognized by Mexican government representatives at the World Food Prize ceremony in Des Moines, Iowa, USA, on 16 October 2014. Enrique Martínez y Martínez, head of Mexico’s Agriculture Secretariat (SAGARPA), congratulated him for developing varieties and technologies that have helped boost wheat productivity in Mexico and the rest of the world.

During the ceremony, Martínez y Martínez signed and renewed SAGARPA’s technical collaboration agreement with CIMMYT for the implementation of MasAgro, CIMMYT’s major project in Mexico. “MasAgro boosts a new model of agricultural extension based on sustainable technologies and capacity building activities that match Mexico’s Farmer’s Confederation’s development vision,” said Mexican Senator Manuel Cota, who is also President of the Farmer’s Confederation and of the Senate Agriculture Committee.

By the end of 2014, there were over 200,000 farmers linked to MasAgro on more than 440,000 hectares across Mexico. “To address farmer’s needs we must pursue scientific excellence as Norman Borlaug did,” stressed Dr. Bram Govaerts, MasAgro leader. “We must go out to the field and get our hands dirty; take risks and be bold in our research; let innovation flow and get rid of false illusions of control,” Govaerts added.

After the ceremony, Dr. Borlaug’s family, government officials and CIMMYT laureate scientists unveiled a statue of Dr. Borlaug at the Center facilities.

“Next year CIMMYT will celebrate its 50th anniversary,” said Thomas Lumpkin, CIMMYT director general. “For 50 years Mexico has been the cradle of CIMMYT’s global agricultural innovation. Our challenge now is to ask what the next 50 years will hold.”

Global Soil Week

Written by on April 16, 2015. Posted in News.

For the much-needed focus they bring on a burning issue, CIMMYT’s Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS) Project celebrates the Global Soil Week and the International Year of Soils.
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Africa’s maize farmers must deal with drought, weeds and pests, but their problems start with degraded, nutrient-starved soils and the farmers’ inability to purchase enough nitrogen fertilizer.
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Smallholder maize yields in sub-Saharan Africa are a fraction of those in the developed world, due mainly to the region’s poor soils and farmers’ limited access to fertilizer or improved maize seed. On average, such farmers apply only 9 kilograms of fertilizer per hectare of cropland.

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Of that small amount, often less than half is captured by the crop; the rest is leached deep into the soil where plants cannot recover it or otherwise lost. But all is not bleak, and here are some of the solutions from the Improved Maize for African Soils Project.

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Videos

Links

IMAS Project | International Year of Soils | Global Soil Week 2015 – Press release • Short feature | Our work on maize

Screening for maize lethal necrosis (MLN) – May 2015

Written by on April 14, 2015. Posted in News.

CIMMYT wishes to announce that the start of the planting season for the 2015A planting season at the KALRO–CIMMYT maize lethal necrosis (MLN) artificial inoculation screening site at Naivasha, Kenya. Interested organizations from both the private and public sectors are invited to send their maize germplasm for screening. Planting is due to start at the end of May 2015 following an upgrade of the current irrigation system. Please note that it can take up to six weeks to process imports and clear shipments..

The MLN Screening Facility is the largest of its kind established in response to the MLN outbreak in eastern Africa in 2013. It supports countries in sub-Saharan to screen maize germplasm (hybrids, inbreds, and open pollinated varieties) against MLN in a quarantined environment. The facility is managed jointly by the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) and CIMMYT, and was established with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture. Since its inception in 2013, the facility has evaluated more than 20,000 accessions from more than 15 multinational and national seed companies and national research programs.

For assistance in obtaining import permits and necessary logistics for the upcoming screening, please contact Biswanath Das

Tel: +254 20 7224600 (direct)
CIMMYT–Kenya, ICRAF House, United Nations Avenue, P.O. Box 1041–00621, Nairobi, Kenya.

Sculptor captures demeanor of Nobel laureate Norman Borlaug

Written by on April 13, 2015. Posted in News.

Sculptor Katharine McDevitt (R) stands in front of the bronze sculpture she created of Norman Borlaug with his daughter, Jeanie Borlaug Laube. (Photo: Marcelo Ortiz/CIMMYT)

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Artist Katharine McDevitt, creator of a new bronze representation of wheat scientist Norman Borlaug, is fascinated by sculptures representing pre-Hispanic deities – so much so that she relocated to Mexico from the United States to learn more about the ancient art form.

She studied, and then taught, sculpture at “La Esmeralda,” the National School of Painting, Sculpture and Engraving in Mexico City, where renowned Mexican artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera taught in the 1940s.

Almost 40 years later, McDevitt is still in Mexico where for the past 21 years she has worked at the Chapingo Autonomous University of agriculture and the National Museum of Agriculture as a sculpture instructor and artist in residence.

The Chapingo campus, in the city of Texcoco about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from Mexico City, is home to a mural painted by Rivera in the 1920s titled “Fertile Land.”

Sculptor McDevitt says her personal pre-Hispanic favorite is a 16th century basalt depiction of the Aztec earth goddess Coatlicue, associated with agriculture, the cycle of life, the mother of the moon, stars and Huitzilopochtli, the god of war, sun and human sacrifice. The 2.6-meter (8.5-foot) tall sculpture, housed in Mexico’s National Museum of Anthropology, represents Coatlicue decapitated, snakes emerging from her neck, clad in a skirt of snakes and a necklace of human hearts, hands and a skull.

“I’m always very moved by pre-Hispanic sculpture, I find it very powerful – it’s a language that speaks across boundaries of culture, you can feel the tremendous energy,” said McDevitt, who has also made her own pantheon of deities, including the Diosa del Maíz statue at Chapingo.

The massive stone Coatlicue sculpture is a far cry from her own gentle tribute in bronze to a more contemporary agricultural giant – 1970 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Norman Borlaug – which was unveiled in the presence of his daughter Jeanie Laube Borlaug and members of the international wheat community at CIMMYT headquarters near Texcoco last week.

Borlaug, who died in 2009 at age 95, led efforts that began at CIMMYT in Mexico to develop high-yielding, disease-resistant, semi-dwarf wheat varieties in the mid-20th century. His successes, which earned him the title “Father of the Green Revolution,” are estimated to have helped save more than 1 billion lives in the developing world.

The life-size sculpture is based on an emblematic photograph of the scientist, McDevitt said. Borlaug, originally from Iowa, is wearing a familiar hat, jotting down notes in a book and wearing a class ring from the University of Minnesota where he earned his graduate degrees. The wheat stalks at his feet were made from casts of wheat plants of the varieties used for the Green Revolution, McDevitt said.

“This is the most inspiring figure I’ve ever had the privilege of doing,” McDevitt said, adding that she considers Borlaug a modern god of agriculture. “This project has been the greatest honor of my career. There was a lot of input from CIMMYT staff who knew Dr. Borlaug well. They offered suggestions, useful comments and tips on how to make the sculpture more life-like, how to make it more faithful to who Dr. Borlaug was.”

McDevitt also designs and produces pre-Hispanic rituals at the Chapingo Autonomous University, including a graduation ritual designed around Tlaloc, the Aztec god of rain, water, lightning and agriculture. Each August, McDevitt designs a welcome ritual for new students based around the story of Xilonen, the corn goddess.

In 2001, Borlaug participated in an interactive seed sowing-ritual inspired by Rivera’s murals. As part of the ritual, which occurs every year on Agronomy Day on February 22, a hand – created by McDevitt – emerges from furrows of earth, laid out in the National Agricultural Museum.

Three life-size versions of McDevitt’s Borlaug statue exist. One is in Ciudad Obregon in the northern Mexican state of Sonora and the other is in Delhi, India. A small number of miniature replicas have been distributed to recognize important achievements of key contributors to global food security, including 2014 World Food Prize laureate Sanjaya Rajaram, a former student of Borlaug’s at CIMMYT.

Innovation key to wheat yield potential advances, says in-coming CIMMYT DG

Written by on April 13, 2015. Posted in Features.

Photos: Alfredo Sáenz/CIMMYT — Outgoing CIMMYT Director General Thomas Lumpkin, incoming CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff, Nynke Nammensma and Jeannie Laube Borlaug (L to R) chat during Visitors’ Week in Obregon, Mexico. CIMMYT/Alfredo Sáenz

CIUDAD OBREGON, Mexico (CIMMYT) — Martin Kropff, who will take the helm as director general of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in June, joined scientists, and other members of the global wheat community at the CIMMYT experimental research station near the town of Ciudad Obregon in Mexico’s northern state of Sonora for annual Visitors’ Week.

Following a tour of a wide range of research projects underway in the wheat fields of the Yaqui Valley made famous around the world by the work of the late Nobel Peace Prize winner Norman Borlaug, who died in 2009 at age 95, Kropff shared his views.

Borlaug led efforts to develop high-yielding, disease-resistant, semi-dwarf wheat varieties in the mid-20th century that are estimated to have helped save more than 1 billion lives in Pakistan, India and other areas of the developing world.

“I’m very impressed by what I’ve seen in Obregon,” said Kropff, who is currently chancellor and vice chairman of the executive board of Wageningen University and Research Center in the Netherlands.

“From the gene bank in El Batan, the breeding and pre-breeding and the work with farmers on a huge scale, it’s extremely high quality and innovative,” added Kropff, who with his wife Nynke Nammensma also visited CIMMYT’s El Batan headquarters near Mexico City earlier in the week.

“The MasAgro program is very impressive because it takes the step of integrating scientific knowledge with farmers’ knowledge – it’s a novel way to aid farmers by getting new technology working on farms at a large scale. It is a co-innovation approach,” Kropff said.

The Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture, led by country’s Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA) and known locally as MasAgro, helps farmers understand how minimal soil disturbance, permanent soil cover and crop rotation can simultaneously boost yields and sustainably increase profits.

“The program is an example of how farmers, scientists and other stakeholders can think about and create innovations through appropriate fertilizer applications, seed technologies and also through such instruments as the post-harvesting machines,” Kropff said.

“This is fantastic. That’s what the CGIAR is all about.”

Left to right: Tom Lumpkin, John Snape and Martin Kropff. — Thomas Lumpkin, John Snape and Martin Kropff (L to R). CIMMYT/Alfredo Sáenz

“The HarvestPlus program, which adds more zinc and iron into the crop through breeding, also plays a key role in CIMMYT’s research portfolio,” Kropff said.

Zinc deficiency is attributed to 800,000 deaths each year and affects about one-third of the world’s population, according to the World Health Organization. Enhancing the micronutrient content in wheat through biofortification is seen as an important tool to help improve the diets of the most vulnerable sectors of society.

The climate change adaptation work he observed, which is focused on drought and heat stress resilience is of paramount importance, Kropff said.

Findings in a report released last year by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change state it is very likely that heat waves will occur more often and last longer throughout the 21st Century and that rainfall will be more unpredictable.

Mean surface temperatures could potentially rise by between 2 to 5 degrees Celsius or more, the report said.

“To safeguard food security for the 9 billion people we’re expecting will populate the planet by 2050, we need innovations based on breeding, and solid agronomy based on precision farming,” Kropff said.

“There’s no other organization in the world that is so well designed as the CGIAR to do this type of work. CIMMYT is the crown jewel of the CGIAR together with the gene banks. No other organization can do this.”

“We’ve done a lot of work in getting higher yields, but not much through increased yield potential, and that’s what we have to work on now,” he added.

“If you raise the yield through agronomy, you still need to enhance yield potential and there’s very good fundamental work going on here.”

“The partnerships here are excellent – scientists that are here from universities are as proud as CIMMYT itself about all the work that is being done. I’m really honored that from 1 June, I have the opportunity to be the director general of this institution. I cannot wait to get started working with the team at CIMMYT and I’m extremely grateful for the warm welcome I’ve received – a smooth transition is already underway.”

Follow Martin Kropff on Twitter @KropffMartin