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.

Achieving food security through seed security in Timor-Leste

Written by on February 25, 2013. Posted in News.

Timor-Leste-CBSP-Maize-Photo In Timor-Leste, maize is the main staple crop grown by 88% of farming households. However, availability of quality seed of improved maize varieties is a major bottleneck for enhancing crop production and productivity. Experiences gained through the Seeds of Life program within the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF) indicated that there was a significant yield advantage of MAF-released maize varieties over the local varieties under farmer management practices. The MAF recommended an improved open-pollinated maize variety Sele, originally LYDMR (Late, Yellow, Downy Mildew Resistant) introduced by the CIMMYT Asian Regional Maize Program, whose yield is 47% higher than that of traditional maize varieties (average result from 1,091 on-farm demonstrations trials during 2006-10).

Annually, Timor-Leste pays at least US$ 1.5 million to service its national maize seed requirements, a large expense for such a small nation. Despite intensive efforts, the supply of MAF-released Sele seed was only 32 tons in 2011 and 89 tons in 2012, which is far below the nation’s total maize seed requirements. To address the maize seed insecurity, the MAF, with support from the Australian Government through the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), included community-based seed production (CBSP) in the third phase of the Seeds of Life (SoL3) program. The Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture (CLIMA) within the University of Western Australia (UWA) is commissioned to coordinate the Australian-funded activities.

CBSP is a decentralized system of production, storage, and marketing of seeds by organized groups of farmers operating close to their homes as community groups or farmers associations. At the initial stage, the groups or associations received training on seed production, storage, and marketing from extension staff of MAF or NGOs. After gaining experience, these groups continue seed production activities on their own with little or no extension support. The CBSP groups follow basic seed production procedures, produce quality seed for use by group members, and sell or barter any surplus to others in the local community. The SoL3 program currently operates in 11 of the 13 districts of Timor-Leste (45 sub-districts and 135 sucos) through 680 CBSP groups with support from the MAFSoL extension program. Four hundred more CBSP groups are facilitated through collaboration with international NGOs, such as CARE, World Vision, Mercy Corps, Hivos, Catholic Relief Services, and USC Canada. The program not only supports maize seed production by community groups, but also seed production of other major food grains, such as rice and peanuts, as well as plots of improved varieties of cassava and sweet potato.

During the initial year of SoL3, nearly 726 CBSP groups were facilitated by MAF and NGOs. Of these, 320 (99 groups by MAF-SoL and 221 groups by NGOs) were growing Sele maize variety. Each participating group was composed of an average of 15 members, and each group was provided with 5 kg of certified Sele seed, sufficient to plant a 2,000 m2 seed plot. In the initial year of implementation, 289 CBSP groups produced an average of 159 kg of quality Sele seed (totaling 46 tons), while 31 groups suffered total crop failure due to grazing animals. This locally produced seed, stored in airtight 200-liter steel drums, was sufficient to meet the seed requirements of all group members and still leave extra seed for local barter or sale.

CBSP in Timor-Leste has proved to be a cost-effective and sustainable method of achieving local seed security. With further planning and effective implementation, each village, sub-district, and district in Timor- Leste could potentially achieve local seed security, a necessary prerequisite for maize food security of Timor-Leste.

1st National Workshop on Forage Maize

Written by on February 22, 2013. Posted in News.

To discuss possible expansion of MasAgro activities to include maize for use as forage and silage, the Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute (CINVESTAV) in collaboration with MasAgro organized the First National Workshop on Forage Maize during 22-23 January 2013 in Irapuato, Guanajuato, Mexico. The workshop was coordinated by Axel Tiessen, CINVESTAV, and attended by 134 participants from INIFAP, milk industry, public universities (University of Guadalajara, Colegio de Postgraduados, Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, and others), CIMMYT, seed industry, and CINVESTAV.

While MasAgro is currently focusing primarily on maize for grain, the program seeks to expand its activities to better reflect its holistic approach to maize and to support all its uses in Mexico, including forage. The workshop was organized to identify the needs of the milk industry regarding maize silage, as well as the needs of small-scale farmers who use maize for several different purposes. “One of the major traits the milk industry is looking for is dry matter and starch percentage. However, it is a little more complicated for small-scale farmers, as they use maize for various purposes: grain for tortillas or pozole, leaves for tamales, and stover for animal feed.

Therefore, breeding for small-scale farmers differs significantly from breeding for the milk industry,” Félix San Vicente, leader of International Maize Improvement Consortium (IMIC)-Latin America explains the complexity of maize breeding in Mexico.

During the meeting, experts and industry representatives discussed not only what has been done so far, but also what the necessary future steps are. The discussions are expected to result in further collaboration of MasAgro and other institutions, for which MasAgro is currently receiving project proposals.

Maize diversification in Bangladesh: promoting maize for human consumption

Written by on February 21, 2013. Posted in News.

While maize is an important cereal crop in Bangladesh – third only to rice and wheat in terms of cultivated area and second to rice in terms of production – it has not been widely used for human consumption. To discuss filling this gap, CIMMYT-Bangladesh and Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) organized an event on ‘Prospect and opportunity of promoting maize as human food in Bangladesh’ with Natalia Palacios, CIMMYT maize nutrition quality specialist, on 3 February 2013. The event was chaired by Rafiqul Islam Mondal, BARI director general, and facilitated by Mokhlesur Rahman, director of training and communication, and Bhagya Rani Banik, BARI leader of hybrid maize program. It was attended by almost 80 participants from Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC), BARI, Department of Agriculture and Extension, Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee, NGOs working with maize, and CIMMYT.

Maize is an attractive crop for Bangladeshi farmers for several reasons, the demand from producers of poultry and fish feed who purchase approximately 90% of maize produced in the country in particular. Only the remaining portion is used for human consumption. Furthermore, maize has at least double the yield potential of rice and wheat and thus provides greater returns for lower production costs. Maize productivity in Bangladesh is the highest in South Asia (7 t/ha), 99% of the total maize growing area has favorable production environment. Annual demand for maize is slightly over two million tons with a total annual deficit of one million tons. However, the incidence of bird flu in 2008 drastically reduced the area under maize cultivation in 2009, as there was no significant demand for maize. This indicated that maize production in Bangladesh is highly dependent on the poultry industry; it also signifies that sustainable maize production in Bangladesh cannot be achieved without diversifying its uses, including promoting maize for human consumption, the topic of the event.

T.P. Tiwari, CIMMYT-Bangladesh cropping systems agronomist, focused on the necessary changes, including moving away from crops requiring a high amount of water, particularly during winter season, as depletion of water table has resulted in higher production costs, which makes such crops less profitable for farmers. Maize, on the other hand, requires less irrigation. It also has an enormous potential to expand as winter cereal with significantly lower production costs, which is why it is often considered the ‘future crop of Bangladesh.’ If promoted as human food, maize can be the best option for addressing food security. This is no news, as similar views were highlighted in a 2011 report ‘Agricultural Research Vision 2030 and beyond: Research Priorities in Bangladesh Agriculture.’ Tiwari then stressed the urgent need for proper orientation and mentoring regarding maize as human food. Palacios explained the prospects and opportunities to promote maize for human consumption and highlighted that Mexico alone produces around 600 maize food items, 300 of which are consumed regularly. She also emphasized quality protein and biofortified maize in regards to fighting the problem of malnutrition. In the end of her presentation, she thanked BARI and CIMMYT-Bangladesh for the opportunity to share her experiences and thoughts. Following Palacios, the event was concluded by Mondal’s closing remarks. He mentioned multiple potential uses of maize that could satisfy farmers’ needs, such as food, feed, firewood, or fodder. He further stressed the need for practical training on how to make maize food items at local level.

Carlos Slim, Bill Gates and Mexican dignitaries visit CIMMYT to inaugurate Biosciences Complex

Written by on February 19, 2013. Posted in Features.

On 13 February 2013, CIMMYT inaugurated a new US$ 25 million research complex at its headquarters in El Batán. The new advanced bioscience research facilities, 45 kilometers (20 miles) from Mexico City, marked its grand opening to a crowd of more than 100 invited guests.

The event was attended by Bill Gates, Carlos Slim, Lic. Enrique Martínez y Martínez, Mexican Secretary of Agriculture and leader of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA), and Dr. Eruviel Ávila Villegas, Governor of the State of Mexico.

The new bioscience complex will allow researchers to speed the development of valuable seed, by way of more precise characterization of its genetic traits, such as heat and drought tolerance, disease and pest resistance, and seed health, as well as the nutritional and industrial quality of the grain. CIMMYT was the cradle of the Green Revolution 60 years ago. By providing cutting-edge facilities and an enhanced research capacity, this alliance will significantly improve farm productivity.

“We are enthusiastic about this alliance,” said Bill Gates, co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “Bringing together the collective experience of our respective organizations, we can promote innovation to transform the lives of farmers in Mexico and around the world. Investing in agricultural development is one of the most effective investments we can make. It allows farming communities to become self-sufficient and prosperous by growing and selling more of what they produce.”

Carlos Slim added: “This alliance to promote research and development by CIMMYT, with the collaboration of national and international scientists dedicated to improved seed and generating more efficient techniques, is a step toward making this knowledge available to farmers everywhere, particularly small- and intermediate-scale farmers, as well as promoting economic growth, employment, and food self-sufficiency and exports from this sector.”

Both the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Carlos Slim Foundation have been generous supporters of CIMMYT’s mission. The buildings inaugurated today are the result of the Carlos Slim Foundation’s investment in CIMMYT. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation partners with CIMMYT in projects to fight hunger around the world. The impact of the commitment made today by both foundations will be felt beyond Mexico’s borders.

“We will see the introduction of modern and more sustainable farming practices,” said CIMMYT Director General Thomas A. Lumpkin. “These include precision and conservation agriculture, backed by intelligent mobile phone services in farmers’ fields and digital tools in labs that will open our access to the full genetic diversity of maize and wheat to benefit the world’s poorest farming communities.”

Speaking at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Mr. Gates spoke of the importance of CIMMYT’s role in agricultural research and development: “When you ask where the best work is done for poor farmers, the answer is here, at CIMMYT.”

Ribbon-cutting ceremony: Sara Boettiger, Chair, CIMMYT Board of Trustees; Eruviel Ávila, Governor of the State of Mexico; Bill Gates, President of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Lic. Enrique Martínez, Secretary of SAGARPA; Carlos Slim, President of the Carlos Slim Foundation; and Thomas Lumpkin, CIMMYT Director General.

Carlos Slim, Bill Gates and Mexican dignitaries visit CIMMYT to inaugurate Bioscience facilities

Written by on February 15, 2013. Posted in News.

Today, CIMMYT inaugurated a new US$ 25 million research complex at its headquarters in El Batan. The new advanced bioscience research facilities, 45 kilometers (20 miles) from Mexico City, marked its grand opening to a crowd of more than 100 invited guests.

February 13, 2013

CNN video (Spanish)

Bill Gates and Carlos Slim Partner to Support Innovation for Farmers

Written by on February 13, 2013. Posted in Features.

Daimoniz Miondo is one of 800 farmers in Chipeni, Mvera Extension Planning Area, Dowa District, Malawi, who has adopted conservation agriculture practices in recent years with joint support from Malawi’s Department of Agricultural Extension Services, the NGO Total LandCare, and CIMMYT. “I’m harvesting between 30 and 40 bags of maize now per acre, where I used to get only 15 or 20 bags,” says Miondo, who farms to support a household of seven. “Before conservation agriculture, there was a lot of erosion and the rain would wash away the fertilizer and affect the yields.” Conservation agriculture practices cut labor and other farm costs, as well as helping to capture and hold rainfall, thus salvaging harvests when drought hits. Photo credit: Trevor Samson/CIMMYT

Originally posted on the Impatient Optimists blog (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) on 13 February 2013.

We are extremely pleased to welcome Bill Gates and Carlos Slim Helú to CIMMYT headquarters near Mexico City today. They have come to inaugurate major infrastructure improvements for CIMMYT supported by their respective foundations. The nearly 20,000 square meters of construction include badly-needed advanced laboratories, greenhouses, and training facilities. They will be used for cutting-edge research by CIMMYT to help speed the access of developing country farmers to the benefits of science and innovation.

Where are we now and what have we learned?

The repeated food price hikes of recent years most sorely affect the poor, who spend as much as three-quarters of their daily income simply to eat. We know that 0.8 billion human beings are not eating enough.

We’ve not seen the last of food price crises. Widespread, severe droughts of 2012 have devastated global grain harvests, further reduced food stocks, made export markets skittish. Because the world relies heavily on a few, high-production “bread basket” countries, low stocks superimposed on financial speculation will surely bring further, seismic shocks to global food markets.

From the 2007-08 food price peaks, which fueled food riots in more than 30 countries, it should be clear that global food security is everyone’s concern, in both developed and developing countries.

Not all is gloom and doom: Innovation can support more precise and productive science and farming.

There is hope, and more bountiful harvests and sustainable agriculture are key parts of the solution. In many developing countries farming continues to employ large segments of the populace and plays a central role in national economies. There is enormous potential for farmers to boost productivity, reduce reliance on destructive practices, move beyond subsistence, and power development at large. Best of all, new, exciting science is available to adapt to small-scale farmers’ needs, and these farmers are actually looking to policymakers and research and extension organizations to support them.

CIMMYT partners with those actors and others worldwide to offer farmers improved options: better seed and knowhow, improved cropping systems, more secure crop storage methods. Progressive farmers begin to view their daily occupation as an enterprise, rather than mere subsistence, so the focus shifts onto science and innovation to gain precision. Several examples:

DNA analysis to home in on high-value maize and wheat traits for better yields, disease resistance, heat and drought tolerance.
Doubled haploids to speed the creation of genetically pure inbred lines and new maize hybrids.
Conservation and precision agriculture, including more targeted application of irrigation water and fertilizer to boost system output while saving resources and the environment.
Cell phone services so farmers can access precise, locally-tailored information on weather, markets, recommended crops and practices for their fields.

An extraordinary initiative funded by and co-coordinated with Mexico—known as MasAgro, the Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture—is taking these and other innovations directly to Mexican farmers and sequencing the DNA of CIMMYT’s vast maize and wheat seed collections. Similarly innovative partnerships in Africa and Asia feature cropping systems approaches to increase yields and the resilience of the resource base, while supporting farmers’ direct involvement to test and promote new practices. Millions of smallholder farmers and consumers in sub-Saharan Africa are benefiting from the adoption of drought tolerant maize varieties developed using advanced breeding techniques.

The work of all these partners, including CIMMYT, would not be possible without the support of other key partners: national governments, foundations, development banks, and other public and private agencies, including the CGIAR Consortium, who represent the political will and commitment of their constituents through their donations and engagement. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provides not only momentous funding for our work, but invaluable technical guidance and political support.

Returning to today’s inauguration, thanks to the generous support of the Carlos Slim Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, we have effectively doubled our research capacity here in Mexico.

We can accelerate our efforts to unlock the tremendous potential of wheat and maize using modern information and communications technology, combined with the improved and more sustainable agricultural practices. The very personal and proactive engagement in CIMMYT’s mission of visionary personalities such as Mr. Slim Helú and Mr. Gates, and the on-going support of their respective foundations for our relatively little-known research institute, send a strong signal to the world that something important must be going on here. Indeed there is.

Guest post: Partnering to Empower Poor Farming Families and Ensure Global Food Security

Written by on February 13, 2013. Posted in Features.

Originally posted on the Impatient Optimists blog (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) on February 8, 2013. By David Bergvinson – Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Mexican scientist and CIMMYT collaborator J. Arahón Hernández Guzmán examines a maize ear in Jala, Mexico. Photo courtesy of Eloise Phipps/CIMMYT

There is an African proverb that captures the importance of partnerships in the work we do at the Gates Foundation: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go with others.”

Nowhere are partnerships more important than in efforts to help poor farming families around the world to increase their agricultural productivity. Helping farmers grow and sell more crops in a sustainable and equitable way is a catalyst for rural employment that helps address poverty, nutrition, and food security.

One of our partners in this effort is the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (the Spanish acronym is CIMMYT). CIMMYT was the birth place of the first Green Revolution, which resulted from breakthroughs in the development of high yielding wheat varieties that first enabled Mexico to become self-sufficient in wheat production in the 1960s. This was then shared with farmers in India and Pakistan to avert mass starvation.

This success was made possible by bringing together innovation, strong partnerships between nations, and a clear end goal to address an urgent need – global food security.

Next week, we will see another tremendous step towards addressing this urgent need. Bill Gates and Mexican businessman and philanthropist Carlos Slim will inaugurate a new research complex at CIMMYT that will address the complex challenges facing maize and wheat farmers around the globe. How?

The new facilities will enable CIMMYT and its international partners to utilize the power of technology to store information on genetic makeup of plants to improve seed varieties for the benefit of millions. CIMMYT’s maize and wheat gene banks hold the keys that – through better seed varieties – can help farmers address the challenges posed by climate change, increase the efficiency of crops in the use of fertilizer and limited water resources, and improve the nutritional quality of staple crops.

This important work – to make better use of natural crop diversity – is the largest international effort of its kind. The project is supported by the Government of Mexico under the MasAgro project, and will benefit not only farmers in Mexico, but farmers around the globe, through a network of dedicated researchers – many of whom have been trained at CIMMYT over the past decades.

Information and genetic resources generated by MasAgro will be shared freely with the global maize and wheat community, and serve as a model for other crops that are vital to smallholder farm families. Generating these global public goods is a unique role that CIMMYT plays in the agricultural development ecosystem.

In Bill Gates’ Annual Letter, he emphasized the importance that innovation, goals, and measurement have played in enabling the world to work toward meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – including the goal of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger.

The donation made by Carlos Slim to modernize CIMMYT’s research facility will help ensure its continued contribution to develop and delivering farmer-preferred solutions that increase productivity in a sustainable manner. Providing resources for agricultural innovation, building strong partnerships, and setting clear goals for productivity gives us good reason to be optimistic about the future of food security and increased farm productivity to help lift rural families out of poverty.

Zhonghu He received the China Agriculture Elite Award

Written by on February 13, 2013. Posted in News.

Zhonghu He, CIMMYT distinguished scientist and country liaison officer for China, received the China Agriculture Elite Award from the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) in December 2012. The award, presented to 10 Chinese agricultural scientists every 2 years, was created by the MOA in 2006 to recognize individual scientists for their outstanding contributions to the advancement of agricultural science and technology and to the development of agriculture and rural economy in China.

CIMMYT supports Pakistan’s agricultural machinery modernization

Written by on February 12, 2013. Posted in News.

On 22 December 2012, two agricultural research organizations in Pakistan — National Agricultural Research Center, Islamabad, and Wheat Research Institute (WRI) Faisalabad, Punjab — received new Wintersteiger combine harvester and seeding machines from the Wheat Production Enhancement Program for Pakistan (WPEP) funded by USDA and implemented by CIMMYT in an effort to upgrade Pakistan’s wheat research infrastructure. Until now, the institutes were relying on old harvesting and planting machines which could no longer satisfy their research needs. Makhdoom Hussain, WRI Faisalabad director, expressed his gratitude regarding the purchase: “The replacement of old irreparable machines was much needed. It will build the Institute’s capacity to precisely design and conduct experiments.”

Second Class of National Science and Technology Award to Fan Xingming and his team

Written by on February 7, 2013. Posted in News.

The prestigious Second Class of National Science and Technology Awards was presented to the “Tropical and subtropical high-quality, highyield germplasm: innovation research and application” maize project led by Fan Xingming, a CIMMYT partner from the Institute of Food Crops (IFC) at the Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences (YAAS), on 18 January 2013 in Beijing, China.

The project, coordinated by the national maize innovation team, has achieved great results in tropical and subtropical maize germplasm improvement, combining ability analysis and heterosis classification, establishing new methods to classify heterotic groups, and developing and registering 25 high-yielding maize hybrids, including Yunrui 8, Yunrui 1, and Yunyou 19. This has helped to resolve the long-lasting problem with the lack of tropical and subtropical superior maize hybrids in China. The hybrids have been planted on a cumulative area of 11 million hectares in the provinces of Yunnan, Guangxi, and Guizhou in southwestern China, and contributed to the provision of resources for poor farmers in the mountainous areas and among minority groups.

Global Maize Program meeting: The old and the new intersect in Kathmandu

Written by on February 5, 2013. Posted in News.

Lone Badstue (CIMMYT gender and monitoring and evaluation specialist; third from left, bottom) talks with four coordinators of community-based seed production groups in Nepal (top, from right). Also present are Katrine Danielsen, Senior Advisor, Social Development and Gender Equity of the Royal Tropical Institute of Denmark (far left), and Kamala Sapkota, intern working in the Hill Maize Research Project (second from left).

Applying advanced technologies and reconciling dramatic growth in funding, staffing, and complex partnerships with the need to speed farmers’ access to options for better food security and incomes were the themes of discussion among more than 60 specialists in maize breeding, agronomy, socioeconomics, and diverse related disciplines who met in Kathmandu, Nepal, during 28-31 January 2013. “This was a great opportunity for old and new staff to get acquainted and help launch the vibrant evolution of our Program to meet clients and stakeholders’ needs,” said GMP director B.M. Prasanna. “The participation of colleagues from other programs and organizations was crucial, allowing us to identify and address logjams and potential synergies and continue our journey toward being an institution, rather than a mere collection of isolated projects.”

Is wheat a perfect, chronic poison?

Written by on January 31, 2013. Posted in Features.

A new book makes a number of controversial claims about wheat. Once you sort through the hyperbole and hysteria, here’s the news flash: Wheat is not a poison. Millions of people eat it every day. However, wheat — like eggs or peanuts — can make you sick. A small percentage of people are unable to eat wheat due to allergy or health reasons.

The publication of The Wheat Belly, by Dr. William Davis, led some people to question the impact of wheat in their diet, and the ways in which this crop has been improved in recent decades.

If you believe Davis’ book, wheat is bad for you and makes you obese. Yet this grain has been a staple of the human diet for thousands of years, and is a vital source of fiber, starch, and antioxidants. In recent years, wheat consumption in the US has decreased, whilst obesity levels have increased. Weight gain is due to a combination of factors (genetics, diet, lifestyle, environment), and according to data from the World Health Organization, there is no correlation between per capita wheat production and obesity.

Responding to Davis’ claims, The National Wheat Improvement Committee (NWIC) sought input from internationally renowned wheat scientists and used peer-reviewed research in seeking to verify the truth about wheat breeding and improvements.

According to the NWIC, “wheat is an essential, safe, healthy, and wholesome source of energy and essential nutrients… it provides an estimated 4.5 billion people in 94 developing countries 20 percent of their protein intake.”

The NWIC highlighted that wheat improvement has been occurring naturally for the last 10,000 years. In the last 70 years, scientists have simply learnt to capitalize on this by combining genes from complementary wheat parents to incorporate favorable traits into offspring, or by introducing genes from ancestral wheats into new varieties. Neither method employs genetic engineering.

In his book, Davis claims that all wheat is the same, but just as one variety may be taller than another, varieties also vary in protein content. We need a high protein content to make breads and pasta, and flour with low protein levels for making cakes and noodles. One of these proteins is called ‘gliadin’, but contrary to Davis’ assertions, this is not a new protein and was actually discovered more than 100 years ago.

So before you cut wheat out of your diet, take a few minutes to read the full NWIC article, and make your decision based on solid science and expert opinions.

Un nuevo libro hace diversas afirmaciones polémicas sobre el trigo. Una vez revisada la hipérbole y superada la histeria que produce, la noticia es la siguiente: el trigo no es un veneno. Millones de personas lo comen todos los días. Sin embargo, el trigo —al igual que los huevos o los cacahuetes— pueden causar problemas de salud. Un pequeño porcentaje de personas no pueden comer trigo porque puede causarles alergia u otros problemas de salud.

La publicación de The Wheat Belly (“Barriga triguera”), del doctor William Davis, dio lugar a que algunas personas pusieran en cuestión el efecto de incluir trigo en su alimentación y la manera en que este cultivo se ha mejorado en las últimas décadas.

Según el libro de Davis, el trigo hace mal y produce obesidad. No obstante, este grano ha sido un alimento básico para la humanidad durante miles de años y es una fuente vital de fibra, almidón y antioxidantes. En los últimos años, el consumo de trigo ha disminuido en los Estados Unidos, mientras que la obesidad ha aumentado. El aumento de peso se debe a una combinación de factores (genéticos, alimentarios, de hábitos de vida y medioambientales) y según los datos de la Organización Mundial de la Salud, no existe correlación entre la producción per cápita de trigo y la obesidad.

Para responder a las afirmaciones de Davis, el Comité Estadounidense de Mejoramiento del Trigo (National Wheat Improvement Committee, NWIC) consultó a investigadores de fama internacional especializados en dicha especie, para conocer la verdad sobre su selección y mejoramiento.

Según el NWIC, “el trigo es una fuente fundamental, inocua, saludable y sustanciosa de energía y nutrientes esenciales… proporciona el 20% del aporte proteico a 4,500 millones de personas de 94 países en desarrollo”.

El NWIC subrayó que el mejoramiento del trigo se ha estado produciendo naturalmente durante los últimos 10,000 años. En los últimos 70 años, los investigadores solo han aprehendido a sacar provecho de él combinando genes de progenitores complementarios de trigo para incorporar caracteres favorables a su descendencia o introduciendo genes de trigos ancestrales en las nuevas variedades. Ningún método emplea la ingeniería genética.

En su libro, Davis afirma que todos los trigos son iguales, pero de la misma manera que unas variedades son más altas que otras, pueden variar también en cuanto a contenido proteico. Necesitamos harina de alto contenido proteico para elaborar pan y pasta y de bajo contenido proteico para la pastelería y los fideos. Una de estas proteínas se denomina “gliadina”, pero al contrario de lo que afirma Davis, no es una nueva proteína sino que, en realidad, se ha descubierto hace más de 100 años.

Por lo tanto, antes de eliminar el trigo de su alimentación, dedique unos minutos a leer todo el artículo del NWIC y tome una decisión basada en argumentos científicos sólidos y en las opiniones de los expertos.

Maize lethal necrosis (MLN) disease in Kenya and Tanzania: Facts and actions

Written by on January 29, 2013. Posted in News.

A serious new disease of maize appeared in the farmers’ fields in eastern Africa in 2011. Called maize lethal necrosis (MLN; or corn lethal necrosis, CLN), it can devastate maize crops. The disease is difficult to control for two reasons:

It is caused by a combination of two viruses that are difficult to differentiate individually based on visual symptoms.
The insects that transmit the disease-causing viruses may be carried by wind over long distances.

National and global research and extension organizations, laboratories, and seed companies are working together to control the spread of the disease and to develop and deploy disease-resistant maize varieties for the farmers as soon as possible.

Prestigious INSA fellowship to Arun Joshi

Written by on January 16, 2013. Posted in News.

Arun-Joshi Arun Joshi, CIMMYT senior wheat breeder for South Asia, has been named Fellow of the prestigious Indian National Science Academy (INSA) at its annual meeting in Pune, India, during 27-29 December 2012. Joshi has received this award for his contribution in development of popular wheat varieties and for research in management of losses caused by spot blotch pathogen (Bipolaris sorokiniana) and heat stress. He is one of the few scientists who have not only contributed to basic and applied research in wheat, but also carried research to the field, thus directly contributing to food security and improvement of farmers’ livelihoods. “It has been a very satisfying journey for an agricultural scientist,” Joshi stated.

INSA, the leading science academy in India, plays crucial role in promoting, recognizing, and rewarding excellence in science. It was established in 1935 with the objective of promoting science in the country and harnessing scientific knowledge for the cause of humanity and national welfare. This fellowship is a great honor not only for Joshi, but also for CIMMYT and the Institute of Agricultural Sciences at the Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi, India, of which Joshi is the first faculty to receive this award. Congratulations!

CIMMYT mourns the passing of Twumasi-Afriyie, creator of the quality protein maize Obatanpa

Written by on January 14, 2013. Posted in Features.

Dr-Twumasi On 03 January 2013, 63-year-old Ghanaian-born maize breeder Strafford Twumasi-Afriyie succumbed to cancer, leaving a substantive legacy that includes the creation of the world’s most widely-sown quality protein maize (QPM) variety, Obatanpa. His demise represents a huge loss to family, friends, hundreds of colleagues and collaborators, and many thousands of farmers. A highly-committed and knowledgeable scientist, Twumasi is remembered by all for his kind, gentle demeanor and modesty, as well as for building strong partnerships.

Twumasi worked at the Crops Research Institute (CRI), Ghana, through much of his career. Following the completion of his MSc at the University of Guelph, Canada, in 1981, he returned to Ghana to serve with former CIMMYT maize physiologist Greg Edmeades as Joint Coordinator of the Ghana Grains Development Project funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). It was during this period and under the aegis of the GGDP that he used CIMMYT germplasm during the early 1990s to develop Obatanpa, which by 2005 was sown on more than half of Ghana’s maize area. With support from Sasakawa-Global 2000, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), and CIDA, Obatanpa has been released in numerous countries of Africa, including Uganda where as “Nalongo” it is among the most popular maize varieties.

Twumasi joined CIMMYT in 1997 to develop maize varieties for African highland areas in a project supported initially by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany and later the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), CIMMYT, the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA), and CIDA. Releases from that effort are still gaining popularity in high-altitude zones of Ethiopia.

As a breeder in CIDAfunded research in Ethiopia beginning in 2003, Twumasi worked with EIAR to develop a QPM version of the hybrid BH660, which accounts for some 60% of seed sales in Ethiopia. These and other superior varieties developed are being promoted through the new “Nutritious Maize for Ethiopia” project that Twumasi was leading. “The National Maize Program recognizes the relentless work of Dr. Twumasi for small-scale farmers of Ethiopia in particular and Africa in general,” says Berhanu Tadesse, Ethiopia’s National Maize Research Coordinator.

Edmeades remembers Twumasi as scrupulously honest, slow to judgment but always fair, and one of nature’s true gentlemen. “He was not afraid to take risks as a scientist and promote QPM when many others declared it a lost cause,” says Edmeades. “As my counterpart in Ghana I very much enjoyed working with him and came to appreciate his wry sense of humor and his lovely smile.”

Twumasi’s mentorship and tutelage helped several maize researchers from the region develop as strong breeders in their own right. His academic background included a BSc in agriculture from the University of Ghana (1975) and a PhD in plant breeding from the University of Missouri, USA (1989).

The CIMMYT family extends its sympathies to Twumasi’s beloved wife, Veronica, his daughters Mame and Truelove, and his son Kwaku in this difficult time.