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.

Climate Change and Agriculture: Building Resilience

Written by on January 7, 2013. Posted in Features.

This article is cross-posted from the Feed the Future blog. Feed the Future is the United States Government’s global hunger and food security initiative. It supports country-driven approaches to address the root causes of hunger and poverty and forge long-term solutions to chronic food insecurity and undernutrition. Drawing upon resources and expertise of agencies across the U.S. Government, this Presidential Initiative is helping countries transform their own agriculture sectors to sustainably grow enough food to feed their people.

Feed the Future strategies for food security are designed not only to accelerate agriculture-led growth and reduce undernutrition, but also to encourage sustainable and equitable management of land, water, fisheries, and other resources. Feed the Future Intern Christopher Chapman asked CIMMYT’s conservation agriculture expert Bruno Gerard (pictured left) how climate change relates to agricultural development.

Tropicalized maize haploid inducers for doubled haploid-based breeding

Written by on December 28, 2012. Posted in Features. 1 Comment on Tropicalized maize haploid inducers for doubled haploid-based breeding

tropicalized-maize-haploid The doubled haploid (DH) technology enables rapid development of completely homozygous maize lines and offers significant opportunities for fast-track development and release of elite cultivars. Besides simplified logistics and reduced costs, use of DH lines in conjunction with molecular markers significantly improves genetic gains and breeding efficiency. DH lines also are valuable tools in marker-trait association studies, molecular marker-assisted or genomic selection-based breeding, and functional genomics.

Generating DH lines involves four major steps: (1) In vivohaploid induction; (2) haploid seed identification using morphological markers; (3) chromosome doubling of putative haploids; and (4) generating D1 (DH) seed from D0 seedlings. In vivo haploid induction is achieved by crossing a specially developed maize genetic stock called an “inducer” (as male) with a source population (as female) from which homozygous DH lines are developed.

What are tropicalized haploid inducers?
Adoption of DH technology by public maize breeding programs and small- and mediumscale enterprise (SME) seed companies, especially in developing countries, is limited by the lack of inducers adapted to the tropical/subtropical conditions. The CIMMYT Global Maize Program, in collaboration with the Institute of Plant Breeding, Seed Science and Population Genetics of the University of Hohenheim (UHo) now has tropical haploid inducers for sharing with the interested institutions under the terms outlined below.

The tropically adapted inducer lines (TAILs) developed by CIMMYT and UHo showed high haploid induction capacity (~8-10%) and better agronomic performance than temperate inducers, in trials at two CIMMYT experiment stations in Mexico. A haploid inducer hybrid developed using these TAILs revealed heterosis for plant vigor and pollen production under tropical conditions, while maintaining similar haploid induction rates (~8-10%). CIMMYT and UHo decided to share the seed and grant authorization for use of one of the tropicalized haploid inducer lines (one of the parents of a hybrid inducer) and the hybrid inducer to interested applicants, after signing of the relevant material transfer agreement (MTA) and with restrictions to protect the intellectual property rights of both institutions for the inducer lines.

Process of indenting for the tropicalized haploid inducers
Interested applicants should send a letter of intent or an expression of interest in the tropicalized haploid inducers. CIMMYT may seek more information, if required, and will share the relevant MTA template for signing by applicants. The general guidelines to obtain inducers for research use and commercial use are as follows.

For research use by publicly-funded national agricultural research systems
Publicly-funded institutions interested in access to the haploid inducers for specific purposes (e.g., to develop DH lines for breeding programs) may send a letter of intent or expression of interest to CIMMYT. For eligible institutions, the haploid inducers will be provided free-of-charge by CIMMYT and UHo, after signing of a Research Use MTA. Commercial use of the inducers by institutions or others should be in accordance with a separate license agreement for commercial use (as given below).

For commercial use
Applicants may access the inducers for commercial use pursuant to signing of a Material Transfer and License Agreement with CIMMYT and UHo. Applicants shall pay UHo a one-time licence fee of USD 25,000 for provision of seed of two haploid inducers; these include one of the parents of a tropicalized haploid inducer hybrid and the haploid inducer hybrid itself. If applicants wish to access the other parent of the haploid inducer hybrid, an additional one-time licence fee of $10,000 will be payable to UHo.

Acknowledgments
Generous support for joint research on doubled haploids by CIMMYT and the University of Hohenheim has come from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; the Howard G. Buffett Foundation; SAGARPA, the Mexican Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food.; USAID (US Agency for International Development); Dr. Dr. h. c. Herrmann Eiselen and the Foundation fiat panis, Ulm, Germany; the Tiberius Services AG, Stuttgart, Germany; Vilmorin Seed Company; DTMA (Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa) project.;MAIZE CGIAR Research Program; and the International Maize Improvement Consortium (IMIC) project under MasAgro (Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture).

For further details, please contact:

Dr. BM Prasanna, Director, Global Maize Program, CIMMYT ( b.m.prasanna@cgiar.org), or
Dr. Vijay Chaikam, DH Specialist, Global Maize Program, CIMMYT ( v.chaikam@cgiar.org)

Maize Doubled Haploid Facility for Africa (3.17 MB)

The doubled haploid (DH) technology enables rapid development of completely homozygous maize lines and offers significant opportunities for fast-track development and release of elite cultivars. Besides simplified logistics and reduced costs, use of DH lines in conjunction with molecular markers significantly improves genetic gains and breeding efficiency. DH lines also are valuable tools in marker-trait association studies, molecular marker-assisted or genomic selection-based breeding, and functional genomics.

For further details, please contact:

Dr. BM Prasanna, Director, Global Maize Program, CIMMYT ( b.m.prasanna@cgiar.org), or
Dr. Vijay Chaikam, DH Specialist, Global Maize Program, CIMMYT ( v.chaikam@cgiar.org)

Congratulations to Germplasm Bank!

Written by on December 19, 2012. Posted in News.

The CIMMYT Maize and Wheat Germplasm Bank achieved ISO9001:2008 certification this week, after nearly two years of data gathering, intensive analysis, and assessment of processes and best practices. The ISO standards relate to quality management systems and are designed to help organizations ensure that they meet the needs of customers and other stakeholders, while meeting statutory and regulatory requirements. The CIMMYT Maize and Wheat Germplasm Bank is the first CGIAR germplasm bank to achieve ISO9001 certification, and is now one of only three genebanks globally to achieve certification (and the first outside of Europe). CIMMYT staff and areas involved in this certification included both the germplasm banks, human resources, purchasing, risk management, security, maintenance, and ICT departments. A special thanks is extended to Bibiana Espinosa and Paulina Gonzalez, both of whom sheparded the lengthy process to this noteworthy conclusion.

HarvestPlus wheat varieties fight zinc and iron deficiency in India

Written by on December 10, 2012. Posted in News.

A series of farmer-scientist interaction meetings to create awareness of HarvestPlus and new biofortified wheat varieties with high zinc and iron content, involve farmers in participatory varietal selection (PVS) of biofortified varieties in the next crop cycle, train farmers on soil sampling for iron and zinc analysis, and discuss seed and wheat production technology, took place in eastern Uttar Pradesh, India, in November 2012. The meetings were held in Bhurkura, Mirzapur district, on 4 November, Sota, Chandouli district, on 10 November, and Pidkhir, Mirzapur district, on 18 November, and were attended by 25, 38, and 30 farmers, respectively. They were jointly organized by the Banaras Hindu University, Mahamana Krishak Samiti farmers’ cooperative, Mirzapur district, and CIMMYT, and supported by a private seed company M/s. Shyam Seed.

Balasubramaniam Arun, Ramesh Chand, and Vinod Kumar Mishra, wheat scientists from the Banaras Hindu University, introduced the HarvestPlus project’s objectives and the importance of biofortified wheat varieties. Chandra Prakash Srivastava explained the role of zinc and iron for human health, while soil scientist Satish Kumar Singh focused on their role and importance in crop production, as well as zinc level distribution in different soil types in the ricewheat growing areas of the region. Each meeting included a hands-on training on HarvestPlus trials sowing, during which farmers learned about experimental design with focus on plot area, number of lines, and amount of seed to be sown, and which included soil samples collection demonstrations. This was followed by a discussion on the use of conventional and zero-till drill for experiment planting, and the farmers’ experience with biofortified varieties, seed purity maintenance, and the use of the progeny row method. Balanced use of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, sulfur, and boron based on soil analysis was also covered.

CIMMYT wheat breeder Arun Joshi described the steps involved in quality seed production and the importance of seed producers’ organizations for small-scale farmers. He also highlighted advantages of the PVS approach, including the increased adoption rate of new varieties within a shorter period of time. Joshi appreciated the keen interest and active participation of farmers in PVS programs and encouraged them to continue their work and facilitate varietal selection to identify and promote agronomically superior biofortified varieties. The participating farmers showed their interest in HarvestPlus experiments and their continuing support for the wheat biofortification program. They expressed their full satisfaction with the interaction meetings, as these help them to build confidence and enhance their knowledge and capacity for understanding new wheat research processes and results. According to the participants, smallholder farmers have achieved significant gains through the participatory research program, an easier access to new varieties being one of them. Sri Hari Kirtan Singh of M/s. Shyam Seed agreed to multiply all lead varieties seeds identified for high zinc and iron content to allow easy access to an even larger number of farmers.

SIMLESA-Kenya: achievements and future goals

Written by on November 29, 2012. Posted in News.

The Kenya Annual Review and Planning Meeting (ARPM) was held during 5-6 November 2012 at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI). The meeting was attended by 33 participants from the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI), KARI, Ministry of Agriculture, Agriculture Research Council (ARC-SA), International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA), Royal Tropical Institute, Resource Projects Kenya (local NGO), and FRESHCO Seeds (local private seed company). Present were also Stephen Njoka (KARI-Embu) and Francis Muyekho (KARI-Kakamega), who chaired some of the sessions.

Joseph Mureithi, KARI deputy director and SIMLESA program steering committee member for Kenya, welcomed all participants and informed them on the adoption of a new value chain innovation platform, bringing major stakeholders on board to address farmers’ constraints and promote commercialization of agriculture. Ephraim Mukisira then officially opened the meeting by summarizing the outcomes of the KARI Biannual Conference. He discussed the current needs of Kenyan farmers and stressed that “there is need to commercialize the farming business in Kenya in order to empower local farmers.” Besides commercialization, more effort needs to be invested in the SIMLESA initiative. Maize, as the foundation staple in the Kenyan diet, should be promoted together with legumes supplying proteins to the farmers’ families. While the population is rapidly increasing, farm sizes are declining; hence there is a pressing need to increase productivity levels while using the same land area. To realize the program’s impact within the current time constraints, the program aims to assist 50,000 farmers in both Eastern and Western Kenya.

Later on, Mekuria Mulugetta, SIMLESA program leader, provided a detailed background of SIMLESA objectives. He emphasized SIMLESA’s focus on building KARI’s organizational capacity, reminded the participants of the recently published baseline survey report for Kenya, and thanked AusAID for their continuing financial support of the SIMLESA-Ethiopia Expansion program for the next two years. As part of the meeting, the participants travelled to Tanzania, Kenya, and Ethiopia to observe field experiments conducted by SIMLESA, ICRISAT, and national partners.

Global network to increase wheat yield, fight hunger

Written by on November 27, 2012. Posted in News.

To meet the global demand for wheat, wheat yield needs to be increased by 60% by 2050 or 1.6% per year. While scientific evidence suggests that the yield potential could be increased by 50% or more, the research needed is beyond the current capacity of individual institutions or national research programs. Therefore, the establishment of an international Wheat Yield Network (WYN) was proposed on 13 November 2012 during the Wheat Yield Funders’ Conference in Mexico City. The WYN follows on from a major three year effort by the Global Wheat Program and many international partners (who worked together as the Wheat Yield Consortium) with strong support from the Mexican Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA) through the MasAgro initiative.

The meeting was officially opened by Francisco Javier Mayorga Castañeda, SAGARPA Secretary. Thomas Lumpkin, CIMMYT director general, welcomed all participants on behalf of CIMMYT. Hans Braun, CIMMYT Global Wheat Program director, then provided an overview of the global wheat crisis, stating that increasing wheat yield is currently one of the biggest challenges to food security. However, investments in wheat research are low compared to other major crops, although wheat is currently second to rice as the main calorie source and the most important source of plant protein in human food. To achieve the goals of the proposed WYN – increasing the photosynthetic capacity of wheat, achieving high and stable harvest index and lodging resistance, and establishment of a state-of-the-art breeding platform to deliver new wheat lines from this work to the world – it is necessary not only to connect leading public and private research teams, but also to establish more research platforms in developing countries, such as the Campo Experimental Norman E. Borlaug (CENEB) near Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, Mexico.

During his presentation on the origins of the Wheat Yield Consortium, Lumpkin discussed the importance of wheat for achieving food security and raised the question whether wheat will be able to compete with other crops without increased research funding. “We need to supercharge wheat and make it competitive with maize,” he said. Helene Lucas, Wheat Initiative and INRA international coordinator, offered a global perspective on wheat programs and purpose of Wheat Initiative. Steve Visscher (BBSRC deputy chief executive and chief operating officer) and Saharah Moon Chapotin (division chief for agricultural research, USAID) outlined the public sector position, and John Bloomer (JMB Consulting (Pleshey) Ltd. director) summarized the perspective of the private sector.

Prior to the closed session, a discussion was held to cover possible future steps. It was reiterated by participants that the question is not whether a global platform to support wheat research is needed; the question is how to do it. A communiqué with results of the conference is currently being prepared.

More Kenyans to benefit from improved grain storage technologies

Written by on November 26, 2012. Posted in News.

“Maize research in the country has contributed to increased productivity by developing high yielding hybrid varieties that give quick returns to the farmers. However, 30% of post-harvest losses incurred during storage due to insect pests such as the larger grain borer and maize weevil; and lack of effective grain storage facilities negates the achievements,” noted Ephraim Mukisira, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) director, in a speech read on his behalf by Joseph Ochieng, KARI Food Crops assistant director, during the launch of the second phase of the Effective Grain Storage for Better Livelihoods of African Farmers Project (EGSP-II) in Nairobi, Kenya, on 2 November 2012. “In monetary terms, this loss translates to over 10 billion Kenya shillings (US$ 120 million). Therefore more effort is required in post-harvest management practices and marketing to fulfil millenium development goals and realize Vision 2030 [Kenya’s Blue Print to Industrialization],” added Mukisira.

EGSP-II (2012-2016) builds on the successes of the previous phase (2008-2011) and aims to improve food security and reduce vulnerability of resourcepoor farmers, particularly women farmers, in eastern and southern Africa through the dissemination of effective grain storage technologies. The project is funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and will help smallholder farmers in Kenya acquire more than 4,000 metal silos that have proved effective against the larger grain borer and maize weevils – the most destructive storage pests. In addition, smallholder farmers are set to benefit from 24,000 super grain bags.

Mukisira lauded the efforts by national institutions, CIMMYT, and other stakeholders in promoting use of storage technologies, calling for strengthening these efforts even further to achieve economically acceptable post-harvest losses of less than 5%. According to B.M. Prasanna, CIMMYT Global Maize Program director, heavy post-harvest losses prevent Kenya and other countries in the region from achieving food security.

The project’s three components — research, promotion, and policy advocacy for metal silos and super grain bag technologies— are geared towards successful development of a well-functioning and sustainable input chain to provide small-scale maize producers with effective storage technologies, clarified project coordinator Tadele Tefera. EGSP-II will address policy concerns to upscale metal silo technology and test new small-scale technologies based on hermetically sealed bags. Adoption of metal silos is quite expensive for the resourcepoor farmers, and thus has remained low; the new smallscale technology can provide a solution to this problem, as it is a cheap alternative targeting smallholder farmers.

Jones Govereh, CIMMYT policy economist, added: “As a result of lack of adequate awareness and access to appropriate technologies, farmers end up selling their maize soon after harvest, when prices are at their lowest, partly to curb the losses and partly to meet other financial needs. The same farmers are forced to buy the grains back at more than twice the price later in the season to meet their subsistence needs, resulting in a continual poverty trap.” EGSP-II, a major initiative in sub-Saharan Africa, aims to change the situation.

MasAgro made promising advances in its 2011 and 2012 activities

Written by on November 26, 2012. Posted in News.

On Monday 12 November CIMMYT and SAGARPA presented the first MasAgro Activities Report 2011-2012 at CIMMYT headquarters in Texcoco, State of Mexico.

In his welcome speech, Thomas Lumpkin stated that he is proud to collaborate with a country that has such a profound vision and a solid commitment to its people and to humanity. He added that he expects that other governments and foundations will follow Mexico’s example and pointed out that India, Nigeria, and Ethiopia have already taken their first steps in that direction.

Jorge Martínez Durán, who described his participation in MasAgro as a farmer, indicated that farmers do not want to be left behind as Mexico goes forward, and that MasAgro has given them the opportunity to make solid advances by providing them with information and training, which he considers to be the best tools for growth.

Participating in the ceremony were the Secretary of Agricultural and Livestock Development of the State of Mexico, Heriberto Ortega Ramírez, and the Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA), Francisco Mayorga Castañeda, who said that “there is no doubt that MasAgro’s impacts have paved the way for us to face the challenge of increasing production despite adverse climatic conditions, by strengthening research and technological innovation within the framework of national and international collaboration.”

On this point, Bram Govaerts, leader of MasAgro component “Take It to the Farmer,” said that although there is still much to be done, MasAgro has laid down solid bases all along the maize and wheat research, production, and marketing chains, and this will allow Mexico to advance towards having a farm sector that is more productive, prosperous, and sustainable.

To commemorate the occasion, Thomas Lumpkin presented a citation and a statuette of Dr. Norman Borlaug to Secretary Mayorga in recognition of his determined support for implementing a program that has placed Mexico in a position of international leadership in the area of research for food security and sustainable rural development in an environment of climate change.

Also attending the event were farmers, technicians, research cooperators, private sector representatives, federal and local authorities, journalists and representatives of the main international foundations and development agencies, who, all together, totaled 325 guests.

Masagro

Why invest in wheat research?

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on November 14, 2012. Posted in Videos.

Wheat is the most important food crop worldwide and a principal source of nutrients in some of the poorest countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. But wheat, like all living organisms, is unimaginably complex.

CIMMYT scientist Matthew Reynolds believes that for this reason we need a whole consortium of scientists to improve its yield. This video highlights work that has already been done to increase the productivity of wheat through research in spike photosynthesis, roots and breeding. Because when it comes down to it, crop yields cannot be improved overnight, certainly not sustainably. It takes time and investment, and by planning ahead we are actually trying to preempt a disaster, with research and with partnership.

Sharing experiences with effective grain storage in Africa

Written by on November 14, 2012. Posted in News.

A delegation from Kenya, Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Zambia — the target countries of the Effective Grain Storage for Sustainable Livelihoods of African Farmers (EGSP) Phase-II Project— visited Malawi during 22-23 October and Kenya during 25-26 October 2012 to share experiences with project implementation and to learn about the project’s impact on the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. The delegation comprised of officials from ministries of agriculture and national agricultural research systems from the four EGSP countries, and implementing partners (Kenya Agricultural Research Institute and the Catholic Dioceses of Embu and Homa Bay in Kenya, World Vision in Malawi, Zambia Agricultural Research Institute, and University of Zimbabwe and the Department of Agricultural Mechanization in Zimbabwe).

The tour kicked off in Malawi with visits to Mchinji and Dowa districts. The delegates held discussions with the implementing partners and local artisans trained on metal silo fabrication, school representatives, farmer groups, and farmers who had benefitted from the first phase of the project. Everyone present praised the metal silo for its great results in protecting the grains against the larger grain borers and weevils. “This allows farmers to store maize more effectively and sell it when prices are as high as 47 kwacha [US$ 0.16] per kilogram and not when prices are at 18 kwacha [US$ 0.06] per kilogram,” says Andrew Kasalika, chairman of the Tayamba Group in Mlonyeni Extension Planning Area. “With metal silos, women do not have to climb into granaries, which is quite cumbersome,” added Christine Victory, Tayamba Group’s secretary, noting that the technology is also environmentally friendly, “Men do not have to cut trees to construct the granaries.”

In Kenya, the delegation visited Kamuthatha Boarding Primary School in Embu County, which has acquired six 2,700-kilogram metal silos. Nethy Kathungu, the deputy principal, shared the enormous benefits of metal silos: increased quality of grain and thus increased quality of food for the pupils; reduced postharvest losses (previously amounting to 60% of stored grain); price hikes no longer affecting the school during times of scarcity, as they can now store enough to feed all 450 pupils; no need for pesticides; and less storage space required to store the same amount of grain. As a result, the school saves about Ksh 300,000 (US$ 3,600) per year.

The delegates also visited Gikinyukia Agro-Enterprise Self-Help Group in Mbeere South District, Embu County. The Group participates in collective maize, sorghum, and green grams marketing, and owns three 1,800-kilogram metal silos. According to Gibson Wachira Muchiri, the Group chairman, the plan is to assist every member in acquiring a metal silo through the Group’s fund.

The delegates found the visit very educative and informative, especially officials from Zimbabwe and Zambia who will be implementing the project for the first time. The visit allowed them to witness the implementation of EGSP in Kenya and Malawi as well as the role of different partners in the process. The visits also helped the delegates to identify issues that need to be addressed for the second phase to be successful. These include cost-sharing for sustainability of the project, creating a sense of ownership, and producing a sufficient amount of maize for the metal silos to be fully utilized.

Speaking to the delegates, B.M. Prasanna, CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program director, reiterated the importance of the project in enhancing nutrition and food security of smallholder farmers and consumers. He called on the delegates to be the champions of the project and asked them to take it to the next level: “We can only be a catalyst, but we would like you to be the drivers of this movement. You should stimulate demand for the technology. CIMMYT derives its strength from people like you.” Noting that awareness was critical to the success of the project, Prasanna also encouraged the officials to raise awareness among the target beneficiaries, women, women self-help groups, schools, and women-dominated organizations in particular.

KARI science conference highlights joint Kenya-CIMMYT impacts

Written by on November 13, 2012. Posted in Features.

As a celebration of one of the center’s most valued research partnerships, CIMMYT director general Thomas Lumpkin gave a keynote address during the 13th Kenya Agriculture Research Institute (KARI) Biennial Scientific Conference and Agriforum on 22 October 2012 at the institution’s headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. The conference theme was “Agricultural Innovation System for Improved Productivity and Competitiveness in Pursuit of Vision 2030”, and there were more than 200 speakers and 60 exhibitors including CIMMYT, which was one of the event’s sponsors.

Chief guest and Kenyan Assistant Minister for Agriculture, Hon Gideon Ndambuki, said the conference reflected government aspirations for a forum to share breakthroughs in agricultural research by the national research systems and their partners. He challenged participants to “walk the talk” by adopting on their own farms the technological innovations discussed in the conference.

Ndambuki also lauded KARI’s efforts to supply drought tolerant crops for farmers in arid and semiarid lands. “This is especially crucial at this time when the whole world is going through the global phenomena of climate change effects,” said Ndambuki. “The seeds help farmers to adapt to these changes, have also become appropriate for areas that earlier had high rainfall, and help to demonstrate that the climate change effects are indeed real.”

Synergies for success

KARI director Ephraim Mukisira highlighted the excellent KARI-CIMMYT partnership and its importance to address challenges such as maize lethal necrosis and wheat stem rust. “The Ug99 disease on wheat is now getting under control with new varieties developed by KARI in partnership with CIMMYT,” said Mukisira, adding that resistant varieties have been released to farmers in this planting season.

In his keynote, Lumpkin called for applied science to tackle today’s food security challenges. “Only new technologies, including stress tolerant germplasm and appropriate agronomy, will help farmers produce more food,” he said. He also signaled the rising use of wheat in Africa, due to income growth and the demand for convenience foods as more women enter the workplace. “Africa will pay 12 billion dollars to import 40 million tons of wheat this year,” he said. “This heavy dependence on imports is making the region highly vulnerable to global market and supply shocks. Affected nations need to invest in wheat research and development.”

Finally, Lumpkin cited KARI-CIMMYT collaboration to assess maize lethal necrosis in Kenya and to develop resistant varieties, and praised public-private partnerships in Kenya to generate, test, and deploy elite drought and low nitrogen tolerant maize varieties for smallholder farmers. Many farmers who visited a CIMMYT display at the event were keen to get new varieties for diverse ecological zones, underlining the importance of center partnerships with the seed sector.

Science for speedy breeding

KARI and CIMMYT are establishing a maize doubled haploid facility at the KARI Kiboko Station. A technology that renders homozygous inbred lines in a year, rather than through many years of self-pollination, its use by public maize breeding programs and seed companies in developing countries had been constrained by the lack of tropical/subtropical inducers. CIMMYT and the University of Hohenheim have recently developed tropicalized haploid inducer lines and provided training in their use for African breeders. The doubled haploid approach will speed the delivery of improved maize varieties to farmers, and the Kiboko facility will play a key role, according to Lumpkin. “Through this important facility that will specially serve African institutions, we hope to generate at least 60,000 doubled haploid lines annually by 2016,” he said.

Australia and CIMMYT continue support for wheat and maize research in Afghanistan

Written by on November 12, 2012. Posted in News.

After a decade of successful work in Afghanistan, CIMMYT has begun a new phase of a project supported by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). The four-year phase entitled “Sustainable Wheat & Maize Production in Afghanistan” began in October 2012 and builds upon research and development and capacity building activities of the previous phases with a greater emphasis on rainfed wheat and hybrid maize.

The livelihoods of approximately 80% of the Afghan population depend on agriculture and related activities. The central crop in Afghanistan is wheat, providing about 60% of daily calorie intake for an average Afghan. Afghanistan’s annual per capita wheat consumption of 180 kilograms places the country among the top wheat consumers worldwide. While wheat constitutes the most important grain crop in Afghanistan, occupying about 80% of all cereals area, maize is a grossly underutilized food and feed option in the country. It ranks third in importance as far as area and production are concerned, but the current production levels are low at about 0.3 million tons (a considerable decrease from about 0.7 million tons in the 1960s and 1970s). This is expected to change with the Government of Afghanistan’s recently renewed emphasis on maize. CIMMYT, with support from AusAID and ACIAR, has been working towards sustainable growth in wheat and maize production and productivity in the war-torn country.

Agriculture in Afghanistan generally faces various constraints and challenges, including severe droughts and great agro-climatic diversity. However, following a decade of concerted efforts on part of researchers, seed producers, and the farming community, wheat production and productivity is now showing a positive trend. Furthermore, the 10 wheat and 4 maize CIMMYT genotypes that were released in Afghanistan in the past 10 years have contributed to the growth of a public-private partnership within the seed industry, which is expected to produce up to 12% of Afghanistan’s wheat certified demand. Nevertheless, serious issues remain, including the absence of an in-country wheat breeding program and the stark fact that more than 80% of certified seed produced in the country is still Ug99 susceptible. There is also a need to initiate agro-climatic zonespecific varietal testing and to reach out to farmers with zone-specific crop management knowledge.

These are some of the issues to be addressed by the new phase of the project. Additionally, the project will create information management hubs in the provinces of Nangarhar, Herat, Balkh, and Kabul. These hubs, led by the Agricultural Research Institute of Afghanistan (ARIA) and engaging all stakeholders and partners, will undertake baseline and subsequent annual surveys to assess levels of technology adoption. They will also study factors affecting adoption, including the role of children and women in wheat- and maize-based cropping systems, and engage in technology assessment, demonstration, and dissemination.

The current phase aims to empower ARIA to assume a leadership role in all the spheres of technology development and dissemination. To realize this plan, annual workshops will be held to eventually hand over the leadership and coordination role to ARIA and national partners. Implementation of this project in Afghanistan will draw support from in-country partners including, but not limited to, ICARDA-Afghanistan, FAO, the French Agricultural Cooperation, Japan International Cooperation Agency in Kabul, NGOs, seed organizations, farmers, and private sector to ensure sustainable gains.

Ugandan farmers also coating seed for Striga control

Written by on November 7, 2012. Posted in News.

A Striga infested maize field in Tororo, Uganda.

In Tororo, Uganda, farmers have been losing most of their maize crop to witchweed. However, they now feel that there is hope as research by CIMMYT and its partners is pro viding a solution. During a recent field day in Tororo, farmers Selina and Charles Emoit hosted their peers at an on-farm demonstration of 15 improved maize varieties. Farmers had the opportunity to observe the trial and select the best performing varieties.

Having planted the maize coated with the chemical imazapyr, Selina said she had seen wonderful results on her farm. Previously, the couple would get almost nothing from the farm as a result of Striga infestation. “What used to be seen from my farm is not what is seen today,” said Selina expressing her joy at being able to save her crop. To ensure that the experiment was successful, Selina explained that they had a different person planting each plot to avoid mix-ups; after germination, some variations were observed on the crops in the field. “Despite all the variations, each one of them has a cob which is better than what I used to get,” said Selina urging fellow farmers to collaborate with researchers to ensure good yields. Selina thanked all the Striga project collaborators who had collectively made it possible to fight the weed on her farm.

Farmers-selecting-varieties The field day was attended by James Ogwang, director of National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI) at Namulonge; Godfrey Asea, maize breeder and head of the Cereals Program; Pearl and NASECO seed companies representatives; Sammy Waruingi from BASF; and CIMMYT maize breeder Dan Makumbi and research assistant Edna Mageto. Ogwang urged the farmers to plant only certified seed and move beyond border issues to work together in Striga management. Asea thanked the government and farmers for their support in the fight against Striga. He said the farmers had become good project ambassadors.

“Striga is a big challenge to maize production,” said Eva Musenero, District Production Officer, thanking the partners for the efforts towards eliminating the pest. She also urged farmers to embrace new weed management technologies. The farmers who participated in the field day were keen to know how they could access the best performing varieties.

New maize brings hope to farmers in Striga-infested regions in Tanzania and Uganda

Written by on November 6, 2012. Posted in News.

For many years, farmers in Tanzania have desperately tried to control the parasitic flowering plant Striga spp.—popularly known as witchweed—that can make maize farming nearly impossible in regions of heavy infestation. In Tanzania Striga infests an estimated 0.6 million hectares over 10 regions, causing yearly losses to farmers of some 1.7 million tons of grain worth US$ 350 million. For lack of cost-effective control measures for this pest, some farmers have stopped growing maize.

However, there is now hope, thanks to a new maize variety, that is effective in controlling Striga. The variety, TAN222, has the added advantage of being high yielding 3.7 tons per hectare, according to Isaka Mashauri, director of Tanseed International, the company that is commercializing the variety in Tanzania.

Many years of joint research by CIMMYT, BASF (a multinational producer and supplier of agrochemicals), and the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel have resulted in a solution and source of hope for farmers. It involves coating seed of a herbicide-tolerant maize variety with the systemic herbicide imazapyr. When the seed is sown and sprouts, any Striga plants that attack it are killed. As part of this research, the partners developed herbicide tolerant maize lines based on a natural mutation in maize.

The African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) is promoting this technology among farmers and extension agencies in areas of sub-Saharan Africa where Striga is prevalent. In Tanzania, the seed company Tanseed International has used the herbicide tolerant lines from this effort to develop and market the maize variety TAN222.

Anatia Mike, a farmer in Muheza District, Tanzania, tried using herbicide-coated seed of TAN222 and managed to harvest 1.2 tons of grain per hectare from her Striga infested farm, where previously she was getting yields of only 0.5 tons. At a recent field day organized by the research partners on Mike’s homestead to demonstrate the efficacy of this technology, Karimu Mtambo, the Director of Tanzania’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security, and Cooperatives, lauded the practice as the best and most effective in controlling Striga and improving maize yields, and called on farmers to adopt it together with other good agricultural practices.

Also present were Mashauri; Denis Tumwesigye Kyetere and Gospel Omanya, Executive Director and Seed Systems Manager, respectively, AATF; BASF representative Sammy Waruingi; Ibrahim Matovu, Muheza District Commissioner; and from CIMMYT agronomist Fred Kanampiu and breeder Dan Makumbi.

Kyetere promised full support from AATF in scaling out the technology, and Kanampiu called on the government to put in place mechanisms like herbicide registration for commercial use that would facilitate speedy adoption of the technology. He also urged seed companies to work with the Ministry of Agriculture to educate farmers on its use. Matovu promised to have Striga control included in the district agenda, particularly in budgeting.

Recent conference gets wheat back on Africa’s map

Written by on November 5, 2012. Posted in News.

DSCN0042 Wheat is increasingly in demand in sub-Saharan Africa as a result of income growth and the demand for convenience foods as more women enter the workplace, but sub-Saharan countries and Africa as a whole produce only about 30% and 40%, respectively, of their domestic requirements, causing a heavy dependence on imports and making the region highly vulnerable to global market and supply shocks.

This was one conclusion reached by some 250 researchers, policymakers, farmer, and seed company representatives who attended the conference “Wheat for food security in Africa: Science and policy dialogue about the future of wheat in Africa,” held in Addis Ababa during 08-12 October 2012. Organized by Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), CIMMYT, ICARDA, IFPRI, the African Union, and WHEAT-the CGIAR research program, the event was intended to raise awareness about the potential to grow wheat and reduce the region’s imports of the crop, as well as to discuss policy, institutional, and infrastructure constraints. “In 2012, African countries will spend about US$12 billion to import some 40 million tons of wheat,” said Hans Braun, director of CIMMYT’s global wheat program. “If Africa does not push for wheat self-sufficiency, it could face more hunger, instability and even political violence, as bread riots in North Africa showed in recent years.”

Participants hailed from 23 African nations, as well as from Asia, Europe, and the Americas, and included 4 ministers of agriculture (Burundi, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Zimbabwe) and the directors of national agricultural research programs of 16 countries in Africa. Deemed a great success by participants and organizers, the event and the issues discussed were reported widely in regional and global media, including major outlets such as Nature, New Scientist, Le Monde, BBC Radio, and Deutsche Welle, as well as key wire services like Reuters-Thomson, Associated Press, and Bloomberg. An equally important outcome was the “Addis Declaration” formulated by conference participants and intended to get wheat onto Africa’s policy map as a strategic product for food security, according to Bekele Shiferaw, director of CIMMYT’s socioeconomics program and a co-author of a major report1 on wheat farming in Africa. “Unlocking the potential of wheat will require changes in attitudes, policy and donor support for adapting farming systems, empowering African farmers, and developing value chains for seeds, input supply, and output markets,” Shiferaw said.

The busy four-day agenda included visits to Ethiopia’s premier agricultural research stations at Kulumsa and Debre Zeit. The conference program committee would like to thank all who contributed, but special recognition goes to logistics team of Petr Kosina, Bekele Abeyo, and Dave Hodson. Presentations, publications, media reports, and posters are available on the conference web page.