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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.

Swiss Ambassador visits CIMMYT-Harare

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Physiologist Jill Cairns talks about climate change with the Swiss Ambassador.
Physiologist Jill Cairns talks about climate
change with the Swiss Ambassador.

The Ambassador of Switzerland to Angola, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, Luciano Lavizzari, accompanied by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) Food Security program officer for Zimbabwe Mkhululi Ngwenya, visited the CIMMYT Regional office for Southern Africa in Harare, Zimbabwe, on 23 April 2013. The CIMMYT-Harare staff provided a tour around the facilities and briefed them on CIMMYT’s work on food security geared towards finding solutions to challenges faced by farmers.

In the beginning of the visit, CIMMYT physiologist Jill Cairns discussed the issue of climate change. “As a result of climate change, the seasons are going to be much shorter,” explained Cairns, adding that in a region with the lowest maize yields globally, a lot more effort is required to deploy germplasm and farming systems adapted to respond to constraints in the region. Cairns discussed the work done by CIMMYT scientists in countering stresses such as low nitrogen, drought, and heat stress along the maize breeding pipeline from population development, pedigree breeding, to regional and on-farm trials in over 100 diverse locations. She also covered the phenotyping tools used in the research work and highlighted research gains in maize yields, many of which result from highly drought-tolerant maize lines and improved efficiencies of maize breeding pipeline in Eastern and Southern Africa.

John MacRobert, seed systems specialist, highlighted the importance of harmonizing seed systems in the region. “Some countries, like Zimbabwe, have very well developed seed sectors, while others are largely informal,” MacRobert said, stressing the negative consequences this may have on farmers. He then explained the importance of on-farm trials in incorporating farmer preferences such as grain texture in breeding work, using the example of SDC-funded New Seed Initiative for Maize in Southern Africa (NSIMA), a project whose acronym is fashioned after a popular maize staple dish in Zambia and Malawi known as nsima: “NSIMA targets a subset of smallholder farmers who consume the maize that they grow.” MacRobert also highlighted collaboration with other SDC projects whose seed systems encourage community-based seed companies targeting smallholder farmers.

Next on the agenda was conservation agriculture covered by agronomist Christian Thierfelder. “It is crucial to link improved varieties with the best management practices to ensure the sustainability of the cropping system,” stressed Thierfelder who then went on to demonstrate a range of sowing equipment from a stick to animal traction planters used in conservation agriculture.

Seed systems specialist Peter Setimela explains the importance of regional on-farm trials to the Swiss Ambassador Luciano Lavizzari (middle) and SDC Food Security program officer for Zimbabwe Mkhululi Ngwenya.
Seed systems specialist Peter Setimela explains the importance of regional on-farm trials to the Swiss Ambassador Luciano Lavizzari (middle) and SDC Food Security program officer for Zimbabwe Mkhululi Ngwenya.

Socioeconomist Girma T. Kassie turned attention to the consequences of lack of funding for smallholder farmers. For example, lack of funding programs to help the smallholder farmers acquire equipment limits uptake of improved planting practices. “Research on the impact of improved technologies aimed at improving livelihoods of smallholder farmers can help identify the gaps in technology transfer,” he added. Afterwards, the visitors toured CIMMYT trials where they observed the discussed technologies in the field.

CIMMYT has had a long-standing relationship with Switzerland through SDC, which currently funds several CIMMYT projects geared towards improving food security of smallholder farmers in East and Southern Africa. The projects, focusing on post-harvest losses reduction, conservation agriculture, and improved seed systems, include the Effective Grain Storage Project (EGSP), Seeds and Markets Project (SAMP), Harmonized Seed Security Project (HaSSP), and NSIMA. In addition, the SDC funds the ‘SDC-Junior Professional Officer’ supporting agronomist Stephanie Cheesman at the Global Conservation Agriculture Program team. CIMMYT highly appreciates the continued support from the Swiss government through SDC.

US Ambassador to Pakistan visits National Agricultural Research Center in Islamabad

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Pakistan-(1)
US ambassador hands Wintersteiger keys to the chairman of PARC.

On 8 May 2013, US ambassador Richard Olson reaffirmed the United States government’s long-term support to farming communities in Pakistan during his visit to the National Agricultural Research Center (NARC) in Islamabad. The visit, organized by CIMMYT in collaboration with US embassy in Pakistan and Pakistan Agricultural research Council (PARC)/NARC, was to recognize the success of the Wheat Productivity Enhancement Project (WPEP), a USDA program implemented by CIMMYT in collaboration with national and provincial research partners, and to inaugurate the harvesting ceremony for the Ug99 resistant wheat variety called NARC 2011. “Since the 1950s, the United States has been working to support agriculture in Pakistan,” stated Olson. “Wheat accounts for approximately 60% of the daily caloric intake of the average Pakistani, so our joint efforts to combat this disease are critical.”

Muhammad Imtiaz, CIMMYT country liaison officer and wheat breeder, briefed the ambassador on CIMMYT’s mission to sustainably increase productivity of wheat and maize systems to ensure global food security and reduce poverty. “CIMMYT collaboration on sustainable agricultural research with national and provincial research institutes in Pakistan began when Dr. Manzoor Bajwa and Dr. Norman Borlaug worked together to develop ‘Mexi-Pak,’ the wheat variety that started the Green Revolution in Pakistan and helped to double Pakistan’s wheat production between 1965 and 1970,” Imtiaz commented on the long-lasting importance of the partnership for Pakistani farmers. The work is not over as the need for disease resistant wheat varieties continues: experts estimate that Pakistan’s annual wheat harvest could be reduced by as much as 50% if and when Ug99 arrives. “Agriculture contributes 21% to the GDP of Pakistan and employs 45% of the labor force, making it one of the most significant economic drivers of Pakistan,” Imtiaz explained the importance of the sector. Pakistani farmers grew about 24 million tons of wheat on 8 million hectares last year, accounting for about 2.4% of the GDP.

Abdul Basit Khan, Additional Secretary at the Ministry of National Food Security and Research, and Iftikar Ahmed, PARC Chairman, appreciated CIMMYT’s effective role in wheat improvement through technical support and implementation of international funded projects, and reiterated its importance for enhancement of the research efficiency and capacity of Handing over of Wintersteiger key to Chairman PARC Pakistani national institutes.

Nutritious Maize for Ethiopia and gender

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8212177139_56b53c6eea_n The Nutritious Maize for Ethiopia (NuME) aims to develop and promote quality protein maize (QPM) in the major maize growing areas of Ethiopia, including the highlands and the dry lands, to improve nutritional status of children. The project has a strong gender component, ensuring women’s full participation in all activities and equal share of benefits, which was discussed during a Gender Analysis and Strategy workshop at the ILRI campus in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 16 April 2013. The purpose of the event was to present gender analysis and gender strategy developed by Kidist Gebreselasie, NuME gender consultant, to implementation partners, receive partners’ input, agree on strategy, and discuss future developments. The workshop was attended by representatives from the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), ministries of health and agriculture, the Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute (EHNRI), SG2000, FRI, the Ethiopian Seed Enterprise, other seed companies, Hawassa University, Harvard Institute of Public Health, and CIDA (the project’s funder). CIMMYT was represented by Dagne Wegary (interim project coordinator), Dennis Friesen (project advisor/consultant), Vongai Kandiwa (gender specialist), and Hugo De Groote (agricultural economist).

In the opening session of the workshop, Gebreselasie presented her synthesis developed in collaboration with CIMMYT scientists and based on literature review, analysis of a baseline survey (both men and women were interviewed), and an indepth study of two target areas (including focus group discussions and key informant interviews). Gebreselasie found that while men are responsible for plowing and purchase of inputs, including seed, women are responsible for household chores such as cooking and child care. However, both men and women contribute to harvesting and weeding. Planting is either a shared activity, or one done by men. Children are also involved in agricultural activities as they play an important role in herding animals and providing feed and water. Dairy and poultry production management is largely a women’s responsibility; although women receive a substantial part of the income resulting from these activities, their access to resources, as compared to men’s, is largely limited, particularly when it comes to extension services. The agricultural extension system focuses on men and female-headed households; wives are expected to learn from their husbands. Women are also rarely invited to agricultural trainings, especially when they take place outside of their own farm. It is much easier for women to access health extension than agricultural extension workers.

Gebreselasie then outlined a gender strategy to address the above listed constraints and to improve women’s participation in project activities. This involves increasing women’s attendance at QPM demonstrations by inviting them directly and by organizing separate sessions for women during field days, ensuring that the time and place is convenient for them. Gebreselasie suggested involvement of health extension workers in QPM promotion and higher level of women’s involvement in farm radio activities (targeting women). Furthermore, partners should be given incentives to involve women more, and they should also be provided gender training at all levels.

After the presentation, the workshop participants reviewed their organizations’ experiences in gender activities and their responses to the analysis, and discussed ways to incorporate the strategy in their activities.

The NuME gender strategy was later presented and discussed during a meeting of the Project Steering Committee on 23 May at ILRI. CIDA representative Stefna Pacquette emphasized that the strategy needs to involve women in a meaningful way beyond simple participation in project activities. “While focusing on nutrition, NuME can provide a vehicle for strengthening women’s role in the household,” Pacquette noted. “It can also get men to feel more comfortable with women’s presence and participation in traditional male roles.” The next necessary step for NuME is the recruitment of a gender specialist to aid implementation of the strategy.

Generating drought tolerant maize varieties in Latin America

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S03TLWN-ears-ColombiaOn 26-27 April 2013, the FONTAGRO “Generation and validation
of drought tolerant maize varieties to stabilize and reduce mycotoxin damage resulting from climate change” project held its end-of-project meeting in La Ceiba, Honduras, along with the Central American Cooperative Program for the Improvement of Crops and Animals (PCCMCA) meeting (21-26 April). The event highlighted the advances to date, the project’s products, and recommendations for follow-up to ensure that the products reach farmers.

Since 2009, the project generated 5,000 doubled haploid (DH) lines which are currently being evaluated by CIMMYT. The populations were developed from inbred lines identified for drought tolerance, ear rot resistance, and reduced mycotoxin accumulation. The project also identified a set of inbred lines with high levels of ear rot and mycotoxin resistance. The information has been shared with project partners and other breeders for wide use, and CIMMYT will distribute these lines to interested parties. CIMMYT maize breeder Luis Narro commented on the research on diseases, ear rots in particular. “Ear rot is increasing in incidence and severity in South America. Evaluation of 18 commercial hybrids in Peru revealed ear rot incidences as high as 42% on susceptible hybrids in some locations,” he said. “Ear rot tolerant hybrids identified in this project will play an important role in mitigating the detrimental effects posed by ear rots and mycotoxin contamination. These need to be promoted to reach farmers rapidly.” As far as mycotoxins are concerned, the team also identified promising hybrids from validation trials documenting the natural incidence of mycotoxins in Peru, Colombia, and Mexico. This study showed that fumonisins are the most prevalent mycotoxin in South America (compared to aflatoxin and deoxynivalenol).

“The project has generated many products and validated some that are now being released in several countries,” said the project leader George Mahuku. Among those are four varieties released in Honduras (three white and one yellow); one white variety in Colombia; two varieties (one yellow, one white) and a yellow hybrid in Nicaragua, and three varieties (two yellow and one white) in Panama. Three hybrids outperforming the local commercial checks are under validation in Peru. Furthermore, two varieties showing the stability and rustic nature of CIMMYT-generated varieties were released in Colombia, Honduras, and Nicaragua. All the released cultivars are moderately tolerant to the tar spot complex disease which is becoming more common in Latin America.
CIMMYT maize breeder Felix San Vicente presented on the advances that have been made in breeding for drought tolerance and ear rot resistance. “We need to establish and maintain a regional network to test our products in marginal areas,” he noted. “We hope that we will be able to leverage funding from the CRP [MAIZE] to continue the validation and dissemination of these important and promising products in the region.” During the meeting, scientists presented 29 papers, 5 of which contained results from the FONTAGRO project. The papers of CIMMYT colleagues Román Gordon and Oscar Cruz were awarded for their contributions to the maize section of the project: Gordon received the first prize for his paper “Selection of maize varieties for tolerance to water stress in Panama 2010-2012,” and Cruz received the second prize for his paper on “Participatory validation of white and yellow maize varieties in two regions of Honduras.”

Fontagro-Laceiba-Honduras-019The project has generally been considered very successful. “We now know which mycotoxins are important in the region and we have the products to potentially minimize the risk,” commented Mahuku. “What we need is to widely test and disseminate the products so that they reach as many farmers as possible. With a little infusion of resources, the dedication demonstrated by this group, and support from policy makers, I have no doubt that we will get there.”

During 23-25 July, FONTAGRO will hold its annual meeting (VIII Taller de Seguimiento TĂ©cnico de Proyectos FONTAGRO) in Uruguay. The “Generation and validation of drought tolerant maize varieties to stabilize and reduce mycotoxin damage resulting from climate change” is one of five projects finishing this year; its representatives were invited to present their results and compete for a financial award given to the best project. If the project wins, the financial resources could help with continued and wider validation of products generated by this project.

Honoring Dr. Evangelina Villegas Moreno, celebrating science and humanity

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DSC_0420“I am so excited to be here,” said Dr. Evangelina Villegas as she received her Outstanding Alumni Award from the Department of Grain Science and Industry at the Kansas State University (KSU) at CIMMYT-El Batán on 07 May 2013. “This award is not just for me,” she added, “it is for everyone who worked with me, and everyone I worked with. I have such fond memories of my time both at CIMMYT and Kansas State, and I am very appreciative of the awards I am receiving today.” Awards? Yes, besides the KSU Award honoring Dr. Villegas and her achievements in helping to alleviate hunger and malnutrition, she also received the CIMMYT-Borlaug Award for her contributions to the Green Revolution. “Eva is an incredible woman who helped to achieve incredible progress in the improvement of maize and wheat,” said Thomas Lumpkin, CIMMYT director general, during the ceremony.

Dr. Villegas spent more than 20 years working for CIMMYT as a cereal chemist in charge of the cereal protein quality laboratory. “It was in this laboratory,” noted Lumpkin in his opening speech, “that Dr. Villegas worked with Dr. Surinder K. Vasal to develop quality protein maize, or QPM.” By the year 2000, QPM was grown on more than 1 million hectares worldwide, dramatically reversing the effects of malnutrition and increasing child health. This work earned the two researchers the 2000 World Food Prize. Dr. Villegas was the first female ever awarded this accolade, and she became a role model for women worldwide. But her “contributions to society did not end with science,” Lumpkin reminded the audience. Dr. Villegas was also responsible for overseeing an education fund for the young ‘bird boys’ of CIMMYT, who were hired to protect the experimental crops from being eaten by birds. Her efforts helped many of them pay for schooling.

After Lumpkin’s introductory speech, the microphone went to Dirk Maier, head of the Department of Grain Sciences and Industry at KSU, where Dr. Villegas received her Master’s degree in 1962. “I was reading Noel Vietmeyer’s ‘Our Daily Bread, The Essential Norman Borlaug’ and it was not until I got to about page 176 when I learned about Dr. Villegas,” said Maier. “We feel very sorry that it took us so many years to realize what a distinguished alumna we have in Dr. Villegas. We use her story to inspire our students; it helps them to understand the importance of food production and food security.” JesĂșs Moncada de la Fuente, director general of Colegio de Postgraduados and long-time friend of Dr. Villegas, then lauded her friendly personality and incredible flexibility in her work: “Usually, people work only on wheat, or only on maize, but Evangelina worked on both. She was a hybrid in that sense.”

“We are honored to call Dr. Evangelina Villegas a member of the CIMMYT family, and are delighted that she has chosen to receive her most recent accolade, from Kansas State University, here at CIMMYT Headquarters,” concluded Lumpkin before taking Dr. Villegas and the guests on a tour around CIMMYT, including the new Biosciences Complex.

CIMMYT promotes China-Australia collaboration on wheat improvement

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PM-Visit-China-Apr2013The Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS)
and Murdoch University, Australia, with financial support from the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology and the Australian government, officially opened the Australia-China Joint Center for Wheat Improvement in Beijing, China, on 9 April 2013. The center is one of six approved jointly by the two governments. It was opened in the presence of the Prime Minister of Australia Honorable Julia Gillard, CAAS President Jiayang Li, CIMMYT distinguished scientist and liaison officer for China Zhonghu He, and Rudi Appels from Murdoch University. The establishment of the center builds upon more than 10 years of successful wheat quality improvement collaboration between the CAAS-CIMMYT wheat program and Murdoch University.

During 15-17 April, over 50 participants from Murdoch and 8 Chinese institutes attended a workshop for the Australia-China Joint Center for Wheat Improvement held in Beijing. They focused on discovery of new genes, development of elite germplasm, and development of gene specific markers by genomic approach for important traits such as yield, drought resistance, and quality. Ten scholarships, each for 12 months, are available for Chinese postgraduate students to work on thesis research at Murdoch University.

Successful partners’ day at CIMMYT-Harare showcasing research work

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The value of CIMMYT’s research work is enhanced through partnerships supporting the development and dissemination of new maize production technologies. To encourage this collaboration, the CIMMYT Southern Africa regional office in Harare, Zimbabwe, holds an annual event during which stakeholders from the ministries of agriculture, academic institutions, seed companies, and donor representatives tour field trials and get acquainted with the station’s research outputs.

On 05 April 2013, the Australian ambassador Matthew Neuhaus together with donor representatives from the European Union, AusAID, and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation joined stakeholders from Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho, Swaziland, South Africa, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo for a successful partners’ day. Over 200 visitors explored CIMMYT fields, observed various products on the maize breeding pipeline such as trials on drought tolerance, nitrogen use efficiency, and demonstrations on conservation agriculture. Visitors also learned about small-scale farm mechanization for conservation agriculture and management of post-harvest losses through the use of metal silos.

During the field tour, it was evident that CIMMYT is incorporating legumes into maize production systems. This not only includes cover crop that contributes to nitrogen fixing but also grain legumes to improve diversity in the farming households’ nutrition. “CIMMYT is keen to see farmers gain more yield per unit area as opposed to having them increase the acreage under maize,” explained Mulugetta Mekuria, regional liaison officer for southern Africa. “When the maize yield is increased on a small portion of the land, the family can then use the rest of the land to grow high value crops such as pigeon peas that are being successfully exported to India from Mozambique and Tanzania,” he added.

Nutrition was a topic of other parts of the partners’ day as well. Farmers in most of the African continent prefer white maize but where diets are predominantly based on maize, especially with weaned infants, nutritional deficiencies may arise. Two exciting options for overcoming such nutritional deficiencies are quality protein maize (QPM) and vitamin A maize (also called orange maize). The QPM varieties have increased amounts of the essential amino acids lysine and tryptophan thereby enhancing the protein quality of maize and contribute to reducing malnutrition that is often seen in children under five years of age who are commonly weaned on maize porridge. “The mothers may not be able to ensure their children’s nutrition needs with the food they currently have,” said seed systems specialist John MacRobert, as he explained the benefits of QPM varieties. The orange maize has improved levels of pro-vitamin A and may help in alleviating vitamin A deficiency. Two varieties have been released in Zambia and two are in pre-release in Zimbabwe. During the tour, seed company representatives were encouraged to identify pre-release materials in which they may be interested.

The tour elicited a lot of interest from the participants who engaged the scientists in discussions, asked questions, and commented on the benefits of new technologies. Kgotso Madisa, an extension officer from Botswana’s Ministry of Agriculture, highlighted the value of nitrogen use efficient maize for farmers who cannot afford to apply the recommended fertilizer doses. “Most of our smallholder farmers are resource poor, these varieties would be of benefit to them,” said Madisa with reference to the hybrids developed under the Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS) project.

ArsĂ©nio Mutatisse from Mozambique’s Higher Polytechnic Institute of Manica confessed that he had been skeptical about conservation agriculture before the event. However, after hearing agronomist Christian Thierfelder explain how to implement conservation agriculture successfully and after observing the trial, Mutatisse said he was convinced about its benefits. “This event was really helpful for us to see how the varieties perform in trials as we work closely with CIMMYT to ensure they get to the farmers,” said Helene Dinova Nsolani, leader of a group of community seed producers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The partners’ day was made possible through the help of CIMMYT’s national staff and intern students working at the station. Thanks to training provided by the regional office, the students have all the necessary knowledge and were thus instrumental in explaining the technologies on display. “We do capacity building to ensure that whenever we move on, we have people to continue with the breeding work,” explained maize breeder Cosmos Magorokosho.

DSC_3920The field day was followed by a feedback session and a technical seminar on the maize lethal necrosis (MLN) disease that has emerged recently in East Africa. During the seminar presented by Magorokosho and MacRobert, principal director of the Department of Agriculture Research Services Danisile Hikwa expressed her appreciation to CIMMYT for its efforts to develop MLN resistant varieties.

Controlling maize storage in Kenya: what really works?

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As traditional storage methods are proving less efficient, especially when faced with pests, a team of scientists from CIMMYT and the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute researched the effectiveness of hermetic systems in controlling maize storage pests in Kenya. To identify the most effective system, CIMMYT’s Hugo De Groote, Simon C. Kimenju, Fred Kanampiu, Tadele Tefera, and Jon Hellin, and KARI’s Paddy Likhayo, tested metal silos and super grain bags at three sites in Kenya and concluded that it is technically feasible to control storage insects without insecticides in Africa by using hermetic storage. However, several unanswered questions remain:

  • While metal silos are very effective, they are also expensive. An economic analysis is necessary to determine the size at which silos become economical. Similarly, if super grain bags get perforated during the storage period, they can be used only once. If that is the case, what is their cost compared to other methods in the long run?
  • The speed of oxygen depletion needs to be measured. Is oxygen depleting slowly in the super grain bags, thus allowing some insects to survive and perforate the bags from inside? Or did the larger grain borer found in the bags perforate the bag from outside? Answers to these questions are crucial for further steps in grain protection: if the insects survive slow oxygen depletion, it is necessary to find measures to speed up the process; if the insects perforate the bags from outside, additional protection is needed.
  • Considering the pros (effective) and cons (costly) of metal silos, and the potential onetime- use-only quality of super grain bags, the authors considered the use of plastic rainwater tanks, which are very popular in Kenya and substantially cheaper than metal silos. Further research is needed to determine whether the larger grain borer would drill through the plastic.

Agrovegetal and CIMMYT renew alliance

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AgrovegetalOn 12 April 2013, CIMMYT director general Thomas Lumpkin and José Ortega Cabello, chairman of the Campo de Tejada cooperative in Spain, signed a five-year extension of a collaborative agreement between Agrovegetal S.A. and CIMMYT dating back to 1998. The objective of the agreement is to develop improved durum wheat, bread wheat, and triticale varieties.

Agrovegetal is an association of several farmer cooperatives and other entities, whose objective is to offer quality seed to farmers in the AndalucĂ­a region of Spain. To that end, it channels resources and efforts towards strategic research and development priorities and activities aimed at developing improved varieties.

Ortega Cabello, Ignacio Solís Martel, Agrovegetal’s technical director, and Rafael Sánchez de Puerta Díaz from the Andalucian Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives, met with Hans Braun, CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program director, to define the specific durum wheat, bread wheat, and triticale research activities that will be conducted to develop high-yielding, highquality, drought-tolerant, and disease-resistant varieties.

Among the alliance’s successes to date is the development of materials with high yield stability and resistance to downy mildew and leaf rust, as well as durums with high pasta-making quality and bread wheats with good baking quality and yellow rust resistance. It has also produced triticales with high protein content, high specific grain weight, and resistance to foliar diseases (downy mildew, rusts, and septoria).

Agricultural Innovation Systems: what do they mean to the work we do?

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DSC_7906On daily basis, we interact with farmers, extension workers, researchers, seed companies, government officials, and many others. Our work would not be possible without these actors, many of whom focus on bringing new products, new processes, new policies, and new forms of organization into economic use. In their attempts to bring about change in agriculture, these multiple stakeholders are all part of what may be seen as agricultural innovation systems (AIS). However, CIMMYT’s engagement with AIS and its role within innovation platforms was not discussed more closely until recently. To review CIMMYT’s role and current approach to the AIS framework, summarize what has been done, and touch upon future plans, CRP MAIZE, the Global Conservation Agriculture Program (GCAP), and the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) organized a workshop on “Agricultural Innovation Systems: what does it mean to the work we do?” The day-long event took place at CIMMYT-El Batán on 11 April 2013; it was attended by over 30 participants from several CIMMYT departments, programs, and regional offices, and facilitated by Remco Mur and Mariana Wongtschowski from KIT.

What led to this cooperation between KIT and CRP MAIZE? When presented with the challenges of CRP MAIZE, such as lifting 10 million people out of extreme poverty in 10 years, David Watson, CRP MAIZE program manager, realized that innovations systems and innovation platforms are often seen as key in achieving these high-aiming goals. “I looked on the ground, but there was no explicit agricultural innovation expertise,” Watson said, explaining why CRP MAIZE contacted KIT to take stock of innovation platform structures and operation processes in CRP MAIZE projects, and suggest ways to strengthen the AIS approach and multi-stakeholder interaction structures.

Wongtschowski presented some of the KIT report findings. Addressing the strong technology focus of CIMMYT, she stressed that innovation is not only about developing technology, but also about setting up mechanisms that would put the technology into practice. “Innovation emerges from interaction,” Wongtschowski added, casting more light on the potential role of CIMMYT, “and while researchers may play a role, their role isn’t the most important one.” Jens Andersson, CIMMYT innovation systems scientist based in Zimbabwe, provided a reflection on the KIT report focusing on the implications of adopting an AIS framework for CIMMYT’s organization of research and its partnerships. “At CIMMYT, we look at innovation platforms as a means to reach impact at scale, or as a vehicle for technology transfer,” he said; but, as the report states, feedback loops from farmers and other stakeholders back to the researchers are often missing. At the same time, innovation platforms play a key role in articulating demand for research within the AIS framework. Yet, as Andersson pointed out, there are a number of problematic assumptions about how stakeholders interact within such platforms. For example, it is generally assumed that once an innovation platform has been established, stakeholders can voice their demands. “We have to be wary of those who talk very little,” Andersson said, alluding to the often silent majority of women farmers in meetings. “They might talk little because they can’t express their ideas,” he explained, pointing to the continued role of research in identifying demand. Then he followed with a photograph from first-year on-farm trial plots under conventional ridgeand- tillage and conservation agriculture in southern Africa. Against all expectation, the maize on the conservation agriculture plot was significantly taller than the conventionally grown maize, despite the same fertilizer regime and the absence of soil cover and nitrogen-mineralizing soil tillage in the conservation agriculture treatment. Behind this mystery lies another assumption about stakeholder participation: are farmers participating in researchers’ field trials because of their keen interest in a technology package, or do they have other reasons? In this case, the trialhosting farmer ‘helped’ the researcher by deliberately planting the conventional treatment late so that the researcher’s treatment would look better. The farmer sought to secure the farm inputs supplied to him also for next season. In this area, farmers’ biggest struggle is to source expensive inputs, notably fertilizer, and the input-supported trials of the researcher provided an opportunity. Farmer participation was thus motivated by a constraint beyond the field scale. “If we don’t research and understand how the wider system works, we can’t effectively introduce new technologies,” Andersson concluded his argument for a system-oriented research.

The workshop’s morning section was wrapped up with a group discussion on the changes necessary for successful innovation. Participants discussed and presented their ideas on what could be improved in our daily work regarding AIS. One question recurred several times during the lively discussions: is it our role to always be the facilitator within innovation platforms, or should this role be carried out by farmers’ associations or other actors?

The afternoon session was devoted to presentations by Bram Govaerts, leader of the Take it to the Farmer component of MasAgro, and Michael Misiko, GCAP innovation specialist, who focused on innovation platforms and their components within Take it to the Farmer and SIMLESA, respectively. While providing an overview of Take it to the Farmer, Govaerts stressed the importance, complexity, and history of farmer organizations as parts of agricultural innovation systems, reiterating Andersson’s previous statement on the importance of understanding the system. Misiko focused on the forms of and need for innovation platforms within SIMLESA. The foundations of SIMLESA lie on integration and partnerships of systems and institutions, sustainable innovation, and impact. However, the organizations operating within SIMLESA are often poorly clustered, sometimes completely detached from the commodities with which they work. According to Misiko, the next step towards further efficiency of the project is a higher level of integration of institutions within SIMLESA’s innovation platform systems.

Bruno Gerard, GCAP director, and Watson, concluded the workshop with reflections on AIS and their roles. “Innovation platforms and innovation approaches should not be taken as the next silver bullet to achieve impact scale,” said Gerard. “They are a mean rather than an end. They are critical for better understanding of social processes within farming systems and for putting technical innovations in context as they can provide important missing knowledge for researchers, farmers, and other actors, including the private sector, in a co-learning fashion.” Gerard pointed out some of the drawbacks as well; innovation platforms and approaches are often resource-intensive and difficult to scale out and scale up due to their context-specificity. “But they can generate valuable, more generic lessons on adoption, adoptability, and the way forward,” he added. “As researchers we have to be careful to intervene more as a catalyst and honest broker and not be too central in order to achieve positive long-term changes. We have to think of a good exit strategy from the beginning. At GCAP, innovations approaches are one piece of the puzzle within our systems research framework and impact pathways,” Gerard concluded.DSC_0004

Provitamin A biofortified orange maize reaches farmers in Zambia

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provitaminaA_HarvestPlusWith over 50% of Zambian children under five vitamin A deficient, Zambia faces a major public health problem. This has resulted in several government intervention programs including vitamin A supplementation and sugar fortification, efforts which will soon be complemented by the release of three orange maize hybrids with higher levels of provitamin A carotenoids (compounds converted to vitamin A when consumed) developed by CIMMYT in collaboration with the Zambia Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI) and funded by HarvestPlus.

The release, dissemination, and promotion plans of these new hybrids were discussed during 18-21 March 2013 when the HarvestPlus maize project held its 10th planning and review meeting in Lusaka, Zambia. The meeting was co-organized by CIMMYT and HarvestPlus and attended by experts from various disciplines including nutritionists, biochemists, biologists, social scientists, public health specialists, and crop development experts from Zambia and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa. CIMMYT was represented by scientists Kevin Pixley and Thanda Dhliwayo.

The first days of the meeting focused on knowledge sharing, identification of gaps in the development and dissemination of provitamin A maize, and lessons learned from the Zambian experience as the project plans to expand to other countries in the region. On 20 March participants visited a ZamSeed seed production site where one of the hybrids is being multiplied, an orange maize demonstration plot, and a provitamin A maize testing site at SeedCo Zambia. Later, they visited the Sibuyunji Agricultural Camp in the Sibuyunji District where farmers shared their thoughts on provitamin A orange maize. “We are very happy to have orange maize as an option to avert vitamin A deficiency in our children,” said a farmer growing one of the orange maize varieties. Taking advantage of the farmer-expert interactions, the day ended with a question-and-answer session between the farmers and the multidisciplinary expert team. The questions ranged from agronomy and orange maize production to its nutritional benefits.

The last day of the meeting was devoted to country presentations and the project’s expansion plans. It was also announced that after 10 years of dedicated culminating in the release of the 3 varieties in Zambia, Kevin Pixley would be unable to continue as HarvestPlus maize crop leader due to his appointment as CIMMYT Genetic Resources Director. Thanda Dhliwayo (CIMMYT) and Abebe Menkir (IITA) will co-lead the maize crop activities for HarvestPlus effective immediately.

ZimCLIFS integrates crop and livestock production research in Zimbabwe

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DSCN4727 In 2012, three CG centers—the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), CIMMYT, and International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)—launched a joint project called Integrating Crops and Livestock for Improved Food Security and Livelihoods in Zimbabwe (ZimCLIFS). The goal of the project is to develop ways to increase agricultural production, improve household food security, alleviate poverty, and thereby reduce food-aid dependency in rural Zimbabwe through better integration of crop and livestock production and market participation. The inception workshop, held 17–19 October 2012, was attended by international project managers and local stakeholders, including research, extension, private-sector, and NGO personnel, and farmers, totaling 41 participants.

The project objectives are as follows:

  • Increase productivity of smallholder crop and livestock farming systems in four districts in two contrasting agro-ecological regions of Zimbabwe by identifying and adapting appropriate technologies and management practices.
  • Improve farmers’ access to resources, technologies, information, and markets by characterizing and strengthening value chains for crops (maize, sorghum, and legumes) and livestock (goats and cattle).
  • Increase the knowledge and skills of research, extension, and agribusiness staff, enabling the first two groups to design and implement integrated farming systems and value chain research, and the latter to apply knowledge generated by the project elsewhere in Zimbabwe.

Since its launch, the project has established field trials on 102 farm sites at a time when the cropping season had already started in the high-potential subhumid Murehwa and Goromonzi districts of Mashonaland East Province, where CIMMYT leads the agronomic activities including conservation agriculture as well as socio-economic components of the project. To support work on these trials, project partners including extension and NGO personnel convened on 16 January 2013 for a data collection training workshop facilitated by staff from ILRI and CIMMYT. The workshop sought to orient partners to the project’s objectives, activities, and operational framework; create awareness of the different types of agronomic experiments implemented in the 2012–13 season; train participants on data collection tools and expectations for the different types of agronomic experiments; and review trial implementation progress. Presentations covered topics such as ethics in agricultural research and the various ZimCLIFS activities and their data collection needs. “We thank the ZimCLIFS team for organizing this meeting, as it has helped to clarify our roles in this project and the direction it is taking,” remarked an extension officer from the Murehwa District in her closing remarks.

On 25 and 26 January 2013, two representatives of the Australian Center for International Agricultural Research, project manager John Dixon and consultant George Mburathi, visited ZimCLIFS staff at the CIMMYT office in Harare and project sites in Goromonzi to see how far the project had progressed. They witnessed conservation agriculture trials in which maize is grown along with livestock-palatable and unpalatable legume species, with the palatable species used to feed livestock and the unpalatable species used to generate biomass for soil cover in the subsequent season, given that livestock graze communally in the area. For example, mucuna (Mucuna pruriens) would be used to feed livestock, while residues from fish-poison-bean (Tephrosia vogelii) or dry sunn hemp (Crotalaria juncea) would be used to provide soil cover in the subsequent season as a new approach to managing residue cover provision in crop-livestock environments. They also visited a site where maize (Zea mays), soybean (Glycine max), cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), and mucuna rotation and intercropping were being tested with a view to intensifying maize-legume production. Other agronomic trials established by the project address the issues of residue types and residue rates in conservation agriculture systems where livestock competition exists. The visitors also witnessed cowpea screening and forage production trials that seek to demonstrate hay and silage making from legume sources such as cowpea and hyacinth bean (Dolichos lablab). Dixon also visited a local abattoir and a goat market as part of appreciating the value chain in livestock production.

Within its first season, ZimCLIFS has established trials in high- and low-potential sites with 303 farmers, about 63% of the targeted 480 households, an impressive start according to Dixon. The project runs until July 2015. Dry season activities will focus on livestock feeding, value chain studies, and establishment of innovation platforms as vehicles for dissemination and increased productivity.

Far in the South and seeking food security: East Timor farmers adopt improved maize seed

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CIMMYT photo
Buddhi Kunwar, Informal Seed Production Advisor, Seeds of Life Program, MAF-East Timor (third from right wearing a hat and with sunglasses hanging from shirt) with members of Community Seed Production Group at ‘Sele’ maize harvest ceremony.”

Through five years of on-farm trials supported by the governments of East Timor and Australia using locally-suited crop varieties provided by five centers of the CGIAR-Consortium, small-scale farmers in East Timor learned about and acquired seed of improved varieties of maize and other key food crops, as well as improved cropping practices. The hungry season for the major staple, maize, was significantly reduced among the adopters and, with more recent support from the “Seed of Life” project and East Timor’s Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, farming communities are producing improved maize seed to satisfy local demand.

A mountainous nation at the very end of the 4,200 kilometer-long Indonesian Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, East Timor has poor soils and limited irrigation that barely support farming of its staple crops, maize and rice. It has one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, but 80% of East Timor’s working population practices agriculture. The struggles leading up to the country’s independence in 1999 left widespread food insecurity. Rural inhabitants—particularly in the uplands—suffer a several-month-long hungry season, when annual stocks of the staples and of root crops (cassava, sweet potato, taro, arrowroot) run out.

Launched in 2000 with support from the governments of Australia and East Timor, the Seeds of Life initiative organized more than 3,000 on-farm demonstrations in the initial 5 years of the project to raise awareness among farmers about improved varieties and cropping practices for maize, rice, groundnut, sweet potato, and cassava. Through more than 1,000 on-farm trials during 2006-10, East Timor’s Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF) found that an improved open-pollinated maize variety “Sele,” derived from CIMMYT breeding programs, yielded nearly 50% more grain on average than traditional varieties. During 2008-11, nearly 28,000 households obtained seed of Sele and by 2010 more than 70% of those families (up from only 58% in 2006-07) were harvesting enough maize grain for their entire year’s food needs. Overall, Seeds of Life’s efforts to identify, multiply, and distribute seed of higher-yielding, more nutritional varieties of the food crops farmers grow have measurably improved the food security and general welfare of participating households.

“A major bottleneck for maize has been the shortage of quality seed of improved varieties,” says Buddhi Kunwar, Informal Seed Production Advisor of MAF who has been working in Seeds of Life. “Despite intensive efforts, the supply of MAF-released Sele seed was only 32 tons in 2011 and 89 tons in 2012, far below the nation’s total maize seed requirement. To address this, we have included community-based seed production as a key part of the Seeds of Life’s most recent phase, which began in 2011 and runs through 2016.”

In community-based seed production, organized groups of farmers operating close to their homes produce, store, and market maize seed, initially with training and other backstopping from MAF or non-government organizations (see the list below). Each group eventually operates on its own, once members gain experience in producing quality seed and marketing or distributing it within the group and their community.

During 2011, more than 700 community-based seed production groups were facilitated by MAF and non-government organizations. Of these, 320 were growing Sele, using 5 kilograms of certified seed they received to sow a 2,000 m2 seed plot. That year 289 groups produced a total of 46 tons of seed, which was stored in airtight steel drums and used to meet the seed requirements of group members and, with the seed left over, for barter or sale.

One problem encountered was grazing animals: these consumed the entire maize seed crops of 31 groups. “During the 2012-13 maize cropping season, MAF and NGO extension officers have selected seed plots that are well protected by fencing in most locations,” says Kunwar, “and a few communities have introduced ‘tara bandu’–a traditional social rule to restrain animals–to protect seed plots.”

In 2012-13 Seeds of Life operates in 11 of East Timor’s 13 districts, including 45 sub-districts and 135 villages. There are 680 community-based seed producer groups supported by MAF extension and another 400 groups supported by non-government organizations. According to Kunwar, Phase 3 of Seeds of Life runs from February 2011 through January 2016 and will support more than 1,000 community seed production groups for subsistence seed production and 50 farmer associations for commercial seed production, covering all 13 districts. The groups produce seed of maize as well as seed of improved varieties of rice and peanuts and cuttings of cassava and sweet potato.

For more information: B.M. Prasanna, Director, Global Maize Program, CIMMYT (b.m.prasanna@cgiar.org), or Buddhi Kunwar, Seeds of Life Program, MAF (buddhi.kunwar@seedsoflifetimor.org)

Australian funding for Seeds of Life comes through the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and ACIAR; it is managed by ACIAR. The Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture (CLIMA) within The University of Western Australia coordinates Australian-funded activities. Adapted lines of food crops for on-farm tests were provided by CIMMYT, IRRI, CIP, ICRISAT, and CIAT. Field work has been led by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF), with facilitation by non-government organizations such as CARE-International, Mercy Corps, Hivos, USC-Canada, World Vision International (WVI), and Catholic Relief Services (CRS).

Dr. Norman E. Borlaug

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CIMMYT fights hunger and poverty in the developing world through smarter agriculture. We are the world’s number one caretaker and developer of maize and wheat, two of humanity’s most vital crops. Maize and wheat are grown on 200 million hectares in developing countries. 84 million of those hectares are planted with varieties of CIMMYT seed. We also maintain the world’s largest maize and wheat seed bank at our headquarters in Mexico.

We are probably best known for prompting the Green Revolution, which saved millions of lives across Asia and led to CIMMYT’s Norman Borlaug receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. Because of population growth, natural resource degradation, and climate change the current challenge is to feed more people, with less resources, and in a more environmentally responsible way than ever before. It can be done.

Pakistan: Innovation to boost agriculture

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NARC-17Pakistan ushered in a new era of agricultural research earlier this month when the Ministry of Food Security and Research, CIMMYT, USAID, the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), and key agricultural leaders from throughout Pakistan gathered in Islamabad on 08 March 2013 to announce the Pakistan ‘Agricultural Innovation Program’ (AIP). This $30 million project seeks to revitalize the contribution of science-supported innovation to the economic growth of Pakistan’s agricultural sector by utilizing the Agricultural Research for Development paradigm.

“Pakistan’s agricultural productivity has fallen behind comparable countries with similar agroecologies,” said Thomas Lumpkin, CIMMYT Director General. “There is a tremendous potential for growth, but we must act now.” Under AIP, commissioned projects and competitive grants will address key objectives to increase productivity within the cereals/cereal systems, livestock, and horticulture sectors. Whilst CIMMYT will manage and take responsibility for the overall AIP portfolio and the cereals/cereal systems component, the program will also draw on the expertise of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), The World Vegetable Center (AVRDC), the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the University of California, Davis. UC Davis will also assist in linking Pakistan research systems to agriculture science and innovation in the USA via the human resources development component of AIP; which will make a particular effort to engage women scientists in Pakistan. PARC is the hosting partner and will also oversee the competitive grants portfolio and ensure that AIP is led and executed by national partners.

The relationship between CIMMYT and Pakistan spans five decades. In 1961, Pakistani FAO trainee Manzoor Bajwa, who was working with Norman Borlaug, selected Mexipak, a high-yielding wheat that went on to become the country’s most popular variety and one of the original megavarieties of the Green Revolution. After a large import of Mexipak seed from Mexico, Pakistan harvested 7 million tons of wheat in 1968, making it the first country in Asia to become self-sufficient in the crop. Most of Pakistan’s wheat crop (24 million tons in 2012) is produced with varieties derived from the CIMMYT/Pakistan collaboration. During the 1990s-early 2000s, CIMMYT helped Pakistani research to launch conservation agriculture in South Asia.

Now, AIP hopes to foster a demand-driven, results-oriented science research community and enhance linkages between Pakistan’s agricultural research and innovation communities, the wider global community of agricultural scientists, and the private and civil society sectors. Research is one among many contributors to increase food security and economic growth; but by creating a dynamic, responsive, and competitive system of science and innovation partnerships, the Agricultural Innovation Program hopes to rapidly boost agricultural production, productivity, and value.

For additional information contact Interim AIP project leader Rick Ward (r.ward@cgiar.org) or CIMMYT Pakistan Country Liaison Officer Muhammad Imtiaz (m.imtiaz@cgiar.org)