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.

Wheat for Food Security in Africa – The Conference Begins Tomorrow!

Written by on October 7, 2012. Posted in Features.

Here in Addis Ababa, excitement is building as more than 200 participants arrive and register for the conference on Wheat for Food Security in Africa, organized by CIMMYT, the International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA), and the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR).

This photo comes from our new Flickr WHEAT collection - you can find it at http://to.ly/fKpy — This photo comes from our new Flickr WHEAT collection – you can find it at http://to.ly/fKpy

Tomorrow the Director Generals of the three organizations will welcome the diverse array of participants – researchers, policymakers, Ministers, journalists, and more – before the Ethiopian Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, H.E. Ato Teferra Derbew, takes to the stage for the official opening address. We will also have the pleasure of welcome remarks from the African Union representative, H.E. Mrs. Tumusiime Rhoda Peace. Then, it will be down to business in the form of keynote speeches and updates on the states of wheat production in North, East, South, and West Africa.

Some of the participants will have an early start tomorrow, as they must get to the conference center to hang their posters. Over 100 African researchers are being sponsored by the conference; they will all have to display a poster or give a presentation, and all participants will receive a book of the abstracts from the sponsored researchers.Now that the rainy season appears to have come to an end, participants will be able to experience Ethiopia at its most green and beautiful when they take a trip to either Debra Zeit or Kulumsa Research Station on day 3. Days four and five will be more policy oriented and discussion based. If you can’t be at the conference itself, we’ll keep you up to date on everything as it happens.

To stay connected, whether you are at the conference or not, follow us on twitter using the #W4A hashtag. There will also be regular updates on the WHEAT Facebook page. And of course, daily summaries on this blog. But why wait until the end of the day? Get involved on Facebook, give us your feedback on twitter, and discuss with your friends, colleagues, and family how we can improve the future of wheat research and production in Africa.

Metal silos and super grain bags improve grain storage in Zimbabwe and Zambia

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

Farmers in Zimbabwe and Zambia, who have been losing their maize harvests due to poor storage facilities, can now effectively store their grain in metal silos and super bags, courtesy of Effective Grain Storage for Sustainable Livelihoods of African Farmers (EGSP) Phase- II Project. The five-year project funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) was launched in Zimbabwe and Zambia on 17 and 20 September 2012, respectively. It aims to improve food security and reduce vulnerability of resource-poor farmers, particularly women farmers, in eastern and southern Africa through the dissemination of metal silos and super grain bags. According to project leader Tadele Tefera, annual post-harvest grain losses in the sub-Saharan region are currently estimated at US$ 4 billion. “This is equivalent to a decade of food aid for the region, or enough annual calories for about 48 million people,” he noted.

The project allows CIMMYT scientists, partners, and collaborators in Zimbabwe and Zambia to exchange ideas, information, and research outputs; raise awareness on promotion and dissemination of effective grain storage technologies; and consult stakeholders on policy environment and market issues for effective implementation of EGSPII. Presiding over the launch in Harare, Danisile Hikwa (principal director of the Department of Research and Specialist Services, Ministry of Agriculture, Zimbabwe) warned of the negative impact of post-harvest losses on food security: “The potential impact of increased maize productivity on poverty reduction and greater livelihood security will not be realized unless technological and institutional innovations are identified and deployed to overcome the chronic syndrome of ‘sell low’ and ‘buy high’. The existing best-bet post-harvest technologies need to be rapidly scaled-up and disseminated in the region.”

Wilfred Mwangi, CIMMYT regional liaison officer, noted that the traditional granaries have failed to protect farmers’ maize harvests against the two most destructive post-harvest insect pests in the region, maize weevils and larger grain borers. “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,” said Mwangi.

In her opening address in Harare, Nadia Otigger, SDC quality assurance adviser for South Africa, reiterated her government’s commitment to reduce poverty in southern Africa, as Switzerland just approved a new strategy with focus on agriculture and food security, aiming to contribute to poverty reduction through the promotion of economically, ecologically, and socially sustainable agricultural production, especially for smallholder farmers. Launching the project in Lusaka, Honorable Rodgers Mwewa, Deputy Minister for Agriculture and Livestock, Zambia, noted that self-sufficiency in food grains in the country does not depend only on increased production but also on minimizing post-harvest losses. “It is economical and environmentally appropriate to protect the harvested maize rather than to continue opening up new land and increase application of chemical fertilizers in the name of increasing production,” he added.

Juliane Ineichen, SDC deputy director for Southern Africa, spoke during the launch in Lilongwe and noted that Switzerland expects to see changes in the lives of smallholder farmers with specific needs and requirements who are facing all kinds of challenges while producing crops and providing food; as well as in institutions and policies providing enabling conditions for smallholder farmers to improve their situations.

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SIMLESA achievements and challenges in Southern Africa

Written by on October 4, 2012. Posted in News.

The Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) initiative held its annual review and planning meetings for Southern Africa in Chimoio, Mozambique (3-4 September 2012), and Lilongwe, Malawi (6-7 September 2012).

The meeting in Mozambique was attended by 47 participants from the national agriculture research system (NARS) from Sussundenga, Rutanda, Manica, Angonia, and Gorongossa active in SIMLESA-Mozambique, and researchers from the Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research (ACIAR), CIMMYT, International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI) in association with the Queensland Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation (QDEEDI), and Agriculture Research Council of South Africa (ARC-SA). It was opened by Feliciano Mazuze on behalf of the director general of Instituto de Investigaçao Agraria Mozambique (IIAM), and praised by John Dixon, ACIAR principal regional coordinator and research program manager, who congratulated the SIMLESA team on the promising achievements to date.

The participants had the opportunity to attend site-specific presentations by NARS partners and discuss new partnerships with the private sector and NGOs willing to join SIMLESA. These new partners include Dengo Commercial, Associação dos Produtores de Oleaginosas (IDEAA-CA), and Instituto Superior Politécnico de Manica (ISPM). They agreed on expanding SIMLESA activities in new communities in line with the SIMLESA target of reaching out to 100,000 farmers within 10 years. The meeting was concluded with presentation of certificates of participation to extension staff and IP members who had participated in the training facilitated by ARC-SA in Chimoio, Mozambique.

The Malawi meeting was attended by 36 NARS officials from Kasungu, Mitundu, Balaka, Ntcheu, Salima, and Mchinji active in SIMLESA-Malawi, and researchers from CIMMYT, QAAFI in association with QDEEDI, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), ARC-SA, Malawi Agricultural Sector Wide Approach (ASWAp), Bunda College of Agriculture, and CPM Agri-Enterprises. Mackson Banda, program steering committee member, expressed satisfaction with the levels of achievements within SIMLESA-Malawi during his opening speech, as significant improvements have been achieved in program implementation and data generation since the last in-country review and planning meeting. The meeting consisted of presentations on adoption survey findings, on-station trial results, and conservation agriculture. The participants agreed that scaling out the initiatives and the innovation platforms engagement remain to be the key challenges. To address some of the issues, ASWAp agreed to include farmers participating in SIMLESA in the government-initiated subsidy program.

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Partners meet in Ethiopia to launch Adoption Pathways

Written by on October 1, 2012. Posted in News.

The first planning and inception meeting of the ‘Identifying socioeconomic constraints to and incentives for faster technology adoption: Pathways to sustainable intensification in Eastern and Southern Africa’ (Adoption Pathways project) took place at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) campus in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, during 13-15 September 2012. The meeting was attended by over 25 participants from 5 universities and research institutes (Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, and Mozambique), international partner universities (University of Queensland, Australia, and Norwegian University of Life Sciences), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), CIMMYT, Australian International Food Security Center (AIFSC), Australian Center for International Agriculture Research (ACIAR), and resource persons from US universities.

The Adoption Pathways project is a continuation of a fruitful partnership between ACIAR and African researchers which began under the Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) initiative led by CIMMYT. It is funded by the newly established AIFSC, which is housed in ACIAR and whose mission is to “accelerate demand-driven research, delivery and adoption of innovations to improve food security.”

The project focuses on the socioeconomic, policy, institutional, risk, and agro-climatic constraints and/or incentives that affect farmers’ technology-adoption behavior. Building on the success of SIMLESA, the Adoption Pathways project will systematically collect and analyze household, plot, and village level data from sentinel villages representing maizelegume based farming systems in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, and Mozambique. Data collected from the sentinel villages will help monitor longterm trends and development changes, and fill the knowledge gaps in designing programs and policies that accelerate technology adoption, stimulate productivity growth, and lead to sustainable agricultural intensification pathways. The planned activities will be implemented in close collaboration with the SIMLESA team to ensure that the knowledge and outputs generated by this project will help bridge the gap between agricultural research and adoption of research outputs. Bronnie Anderson-Smith, AIFSC executive officer, and John Dixon, ACIAR senior adviser/research program manager, highlighted the unique opportunity provided by the project to contribute towards three core strategic focal areas of AIFSC: access to food; education, training, and gender research; and building resilient farming systems.

Throughout the meeting, project participants became familiar with methodological innovations in adoption and impact analysis, gender integration in household level data collection, modeling approaches to determine vulnerability and risk management strategies, conducting risk experiments, and developing econometric and economy-wide models to estimate the impact of technology adoption.

During the closing session, Lisa Filipetto, the Australian Ambassador to Ethiopia, emphasized the important role economists play in integrating the elements of marketing, value-chain analysis, and income generation in technology adoption. “Participants should get involved in policy dialogue in their respective countries so that the ‘adoption pathways’ lead to outcomes and impacts,” she said, adding that “this meeting symbolizes the beginning of the start of a pioneering partnership between AIFSC, CIMMYT, and other national and international partners.”

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Feed the Future delegation visits CIMMYT-Bangladesh

Written by on September 25, 2012. Posted in News.

Bangladesh25 The CIMMYT team in Bangladesh hosted a highprofile field visit on September 1, 2012, for a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) delegation consisting of Paul Weisenfeld (USAID Assistant to the Administrator for Global Food Security), Deniese Rollins (Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator for the USAID Asia Bureau), and Richard Green (USAID Bangladesh Mission Director). The purpose of the visit was to rapidly assess the activities of Feed the Future, an initiative supported by the US government, across Southern Bangladesh.

The delegation visited Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia in Bangladesh (CSISA-BD) project activity locations and other USAID partners. During the visit to CSISA-BD (a collaboration between CIMMYT, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), and World Fish Center), cropping system agronomists Timothy J. Krupnik and Abdul Momin led a presentation jointly developed with Andrew McDonald on CIMMYT’s priority activities in scale-appropriate mechanization to achieve sustainable intensification of cereal-based farming systems. The USAID team appreciated CIMMYT’s emphasis on expanding surface water irrigation to eliminate unproductive fallows in Southern Bangladesh using axial flow pump technology. Additional discussion ensued on improving rainwater productivity using strip-tillage and conservation agriculture; bed-planting to save irrigation costs and mitigate soil arsenic contamination; CIMMYT’s work on labor-saving multi-crop reapers; and CSISA-BD’s emphasis on private sector integration and the promotion of viable business models for agricultural and tillage service providers. Following the presentation, Scott Justice, machinery expert and CIMMYT consultant, led a hands-on demonstration on seederfertilizer drills for strip tillage and raised bed-planters that can be attached to two-wheeled tractors. CIMMYT’s work to increase farmer and service provider adoption of these tools will increase in the future with USAID’s continued support for the CSISA-BD project.

Nepal team receives the 1st BGRI Gene Stewardship Award

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

Nepal-Team The first-ever Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI) Gene Stewardship Award was awarded to the Nepal wheat team for their performance in promoting durable wheat varieties and enhancing food security. The award was handed to the Nepal team at the BGRI Technical Workshop in Beijing, China, held during 1-4 September 2012. It was announced at a special ceremony by Ronnie Coffman (BGRI vice chair) and presented by Jeanie Borlaug Laube (BGRI chair).

The Stewardship Award recognizes a researcher or team of researchers serving a national breeding program or other nationally based institution. Award recipients demonstrate excellence in the development, multiplication, and/or release of rust resistant wheat varieties through appropriate means that encourage diversity and complexity of resistance, promote the durability of the materials, and help implement BGRI’s goal of responsible gene deployment and stewardship.

The Nepal team, led by Madan Raj Bhatta and consisting of Sarala Sharma, Dhruba Bahadur Thapa, Nutan Raj Gautam, and Deepak Bhandari, was nominated by Arun Joshi (CIMMYT senior wheat breeder). “The wheat research team of Nepal has contributed remarkably to bringing about the excellence in the development and release of rustresistant wheat varieties, seed multiplication of resistant varieties with diverse genetic backgrounds, disease surveillance, participatory research with farmers, and improvement of livelihoods of smallscale farmers to combat the problems of food security,” Joshi explained. “This shows what a small program can do to serve farmers and enhance productivity and sustainability.”

Currently, the wheat research team works to release Ug99 resistant varieties of wheat and disseminate the new varieties to resource poor farmers. The Ug99 resistant seed is expected to cover around 5.4% of the area under cultivation for wheat in Nepal by the end of the current cycle (2011-2012). The team has also increased awareness about resistant varieties and pre-release seed multiplication among farmers, seed industry, planners, and national agriculture system. The resistant high-yielding varieties have been developed through collaboration between NARC and international research centers: CIMMYT, the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), and BGRI. According to Madan Raj Bhatta (Nepal Agriculture Research Center, NARC), “the new technologies and wheat varieties introduced by the team have brought a significant increment in area and productivity of wheat during the last five years.” The wheat area increased from 0.7 mha to 0.8 mha, production from 1.4 metric tons to 1.7 metric tons, and productivity from 2.1 tons per hectare to 2.3 tons per hectare.

In addition to its work in Nepal, the wheat team has maintained strong international collaborations by actively working with internationally recognized institutions, such as CIMMYT, BGRI, Cornell University, University of Sydney, University of Minnesota, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, and Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute. During the ceremony, NARC representatives praised the impressive performance of wheat varieties developed by the head of CIMMYT Global Wheat Breeding program Ravi Singh. Dil Bahadur Gurung (NARC executive director) expressed happiness with the wheat team’s achievements and highlighted its importance for Nepal.

MasAgro gains the support of the Mexican Council for Sustainable Rural Development

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

On 30 August 2012, 140 members of the Mexican Council for Sustainable Rural Development visited CIMMYT headquarters in Texcoco, State of Mexico, to observe its experimental plots, become acquainted with the germplasm bank and receive information on the main advances of the Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture (MasAgro) program. The event presented a real challenge in terms of logistics and protocol due to the number of participants and the people that make up the Council: representatives from 11 Federal Secretariats, the Rural Development and Livestock Commissions of the Mexican Congress, public and private farmer organizations, distributors, businessmen and other members of the agricultural and industrial chain, as well as educational and research institutions. Nevertheless, MasAgro’s Karen García and Bram Govaerts thought the visit was a complete success for it focused on the program’s achievements and, most importantly, gained the support of the members of this influential Council.

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Scientists discuss major wheat disease at a symposium in China

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

To discuss fusarium head blight (FHB, or scab), a major wheat disease, over 130 delegates from East Asia, Europe, and North and South America attended the 4th International Symposium on FHB in Nanjing, China, during 23-26 August 2012. The symposium was organized by Nanjing Agricultural University and Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, CIMMYT’s long-time collaborators, and provided an opportunity to discuss recent research and explore further opportunities for cooperation.

CIMMYT was represented by Etienne Duveiller, BISA director of research for South Asia/associate director, global wheat program (GWP) and member of the international organizing committee; Xinyao He, Adjunct Postdoc in the GWP; and Young-Keun Cheong, CIMMYT Adjunct Scientist. Duveiller presented on wheat breeding for better resistance to FHB and reduction of mycotoxin contamination, and He discussed the characterization of new sources of resistance in his poster presentation.

Although considerable progress has been achieved in recent years regarding germplasm development and understanding of the genetics and genomics of scab resistance, FHB continues to be a major wheat disease requiring further research, as it not only reduces grain yield and quality but also raises concerns about food safety due to mycotoxin contamination.

The meeting also provided an opportunity for Duveiller to acknowledge the significant progress achieved in the last decade and the collaboration between CIMMYT and Chinese scientists in development and improvement of scab resistance germplasm. The 5th International FHB Symposium will be held in Brazil in 2016.

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CIMMYT student awarded best poster at the National Biosafety Conference, Kenya

Written by on September 4, 2012. Posted in News.

Murenga Mwimali, a PhD student in plant breeding at the University of Kwazulu Natal, South Africa, currently hosted at CIMMYT-Kenya, was awarded the best student poster at the first National Biosafety Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, during 6-9 August 2012. Mwimali represented the Insect Resistant Maize for Africa (IRMA) and Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) projects with his poster presentation titled ‘Experiences with postharvest monitoring of volunteer crops at the Kiboko GM Maize confined field trial’. In addition to the award, the poster resulted in a policy recommendation to shorten the post-harvest monitoring period to one month, for GM trials, reduced from the original 52 weeks previously stipulated by Kenyan regulations. The results reported in the poster suggested that longer monitoring time was not necessary, because volunteer plants (which sprout from dropped seed) would likely not appear after two weeks.

The conference focused on the introduction of a biotechnology and biosafety framework in Kenya, the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the global status of biotech crops (cotton and maize in Kenya), the role of media and communication networks in disseminating biosafety issues, and the management of public concerns and perception on GMOs.

Congratulations to Mwimali and the IRMA and WEMA teams!

DTMA strengthens research and extension links in Southern Africa

Written by on August 28, 2012. Posted in News.

Largely because commercial farmers have shifted to cash crops such as tobacco and horticulture, smallholder farmers now account for 70-80% of food production in Zimbabwe, and they have little access to credit, according to Danisile Hikwa, Principal Director of the Department of Research and Specialist Services in the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanization and Irrigation Development. “There is simply no money,” said Hikwa, explaining that the lack of credit schemes for small homesteads hinders food growers’ access to inputs such as seed and fertilizer.

Discussions on this and other important topics emerged as part of recent interactions with researchers, government officials, and representatives from seed companies and non-governmental organizations in Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Zambia by Drought Tolerant Maize in Africa (DTMA) project leader Tsedeke Abate. “Government officials in the three countries appreciated the role that CIMMYT is playing to improve maize production in the region,” said Abate.

In the company of CIMMYT maize breeder Cosmos Magorokosho, maize physiologist Jill Cairns, and seed systems specialist Peter Setimela, in Zimbabwe Abate visited the extension department, Ministry of Agriculture Mechanization and Irrigation Development, and met with acting Technical Director Kennedy Mabehla and the acting Deputy Director and Training Specialist Godfrey Tore. Touring field experiments in Save Valley and Chiredzi, the CIMMYT group complimented technical assistant Stanley Gokoma and his team on how well managed the sites were. They also identified droughtprone Chisumbanje and Zaka as potential areas to pilot DTMA varieties. The team visited CIMMYT partner and leading seed producer Seed Co Limited, hosted at the Rattray Arnold Research Centre. “Zimbabwe has an important history in maize seed production,” said Abate. “They introduced maize hybrids on a commercial scale in 1932—the second country to do so after the USA.”

During a National Coordination Unit meeting in Zambia, Abate joined stakeholders who discussed holistic approaches for addressing livelihood and development challenges in the maize value chain. One topic was the low levels of fertilizer use in Africa—on average only 9 kilograms per hectare, due to the high price of this input and national and farm-level resource constraints. An MSc student from the University of Zambia demonstrated a coating material (Agrotain) for fertilizer applications which increases the efficiency of fertilizer use by 50%.

The DTMA team visited government officials and representatives of seed companies and of World Vision in Malawi, where the drought tolerant open pollinated maize varieties ZM309 and ZM523 are available to farmers and drought tolerant hybrids are in the pipeline. Alfred Mtukuso, Director of the Department of Agricultural Research Services (DARS), expressed his appreciation for CIMMYT’s partnership, which benefits smallholder farmers in Malawi. “Research capacity building efforts by CIMMYT have also contributed to the professional growth of young scientists,” he added.

Also praising DTMA contributions in Malawi, Principal Secretary of Agriculture Jeffrey Luhanga said the government is pursuing a subsidy scheme whereby farmers will receive seed and fertilizer coupons and the opportunity to select varieties, including ZM309 (farmers’ favorite as green mealie) and ZM523. The scheme is expected to benefit an estimated 1.5 million households initially and will be scaled up to reach 100,000 more through President Joyce Banda’s Initiative on Poverty and Hunger Reduction. As part of its support for agriculture, the government provides free airtime for radio and television broadcasts of agricultural technology promotions.

Australia’s Grains Research & Development Corporation praises CIMMYT

Written by on August 22, 2012. Posted in News.

In a recent interview on Ground Cover TV, John Harvey, Managing Director of Australia’s Grains Research & Development Corporation (GRDC), described CIMMYT’s high value to the global wheat research community, calling it among other things “…a Mecca for wheat researchers.”

An Australian statutory corporation founded in 1990, GRDC is one of the world’s leading grains research organisations, responsible for planning, investing and overseeing research and development, delivering improvements in production, sustainability and profitability across Australia’s grains industry. As of 1994, GRDC has supported CIMMYT with a focus on targeting, importing, and evaluating CIMMYT wheat germplasm for use in Australia. More than 90% of the wheat grown in Australia is descended from varieties contained in CIMMYT’s genebank, yielding a net benefit to Australian farmers of nearly A$ 150 million per year. By the same token Australia, which has been renowned for wheat breeding for more than a century, has contributed high-quality germplasm and crucial technical expertise to CIMMYT in numerous areas of our work. The last minute of the video is devoted to CIMMYT .

“Save More, Grow More, Earn More” – CIMMYT in Bangladesh

Written by on August 13, 2012. Posted in News.

Prices for irrigation, fertilizers, fuel, and labor are rising. Fresh water supplies are decreasing, and many farmers find it increasingly difficult to plant their crop on time to assure good yields and return on their investments. The CIMMYT team in Bangladesh created an inspiring video showing how farmers in South Asia are innovating to overcome these problems by using small-scale appropriate machinery and crop management practices that reduce tillage to save time, soil moisture, and money. The video, “Save More, Grow More, Earn More”, has been released in English and Bangla and features the work of the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia in Bangladesh (CSISA-BD).

The video shows case studies from two distinct environments in Bangladesh. In the coastal region, soil salinity and insufficient irrigation present serious constraints keeping farmers from growing a dry season crop. However, by using simple machinery that reduces tillage to allow earlier planting and keeping crop residues on the soil surface to conserve soil moisture and reduce salinity, a group of women in southern Bangladesh managed to forgo the fallow and grow a profitable maize crop. In central Bangladesh, where the cost of irrigation and farm labor is skyrocketing, farmers and local service providers teamed up to demonstrate the benefits of planting wheat, maize, and legumes on raised beds to reduce labor and irrigation requirements. The crop management principles used by both groups of farmers can be applied anywhere –it is possible to grow more, while saving time, water, and money!

“Save More, Grow More, Earn More” is being shown in villages across Bangladesh through traveling outdoor roadshows led by CIMMYT’s partner Agricultural Advisory Services (AAS). Thousands of DVDs have been produced, and the film will be featured on national television in Bangladesh. Furthermore, “Save More, Grow More, Earn More” has been re-released on a CSISA-BD training DVD entitled “Strengthening Cereal Systems in Bangladesh”, which also features four films on rice seed health.

“Save More, Grow More, Earn More” was developed in partnership with the Regional Wheat Research Consortium of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) and with the guidance of Timothy J. Krupnik, CIMMYT Cropping Systems Agronomist, and Agro-Insight. Funding for video development and field activities was supplied by the Feed the Future Initiative of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Cornell University’s Food for Progress Project funded by the Unites States Department of Agriculture.

SIMLESA farmers from western and eastern Kenya share their experiences

Written by on August 8, 2012. Posted in News.

A delegation of 20 farmers, research technicians, and Ministry of Agriculture officials from western Kenya visited their counterparts in eastern Kenya during 12-13 June 2012 to learn and share their experiences with implementing Sustainable Intensification of Maize- Legume based Cropping Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) project. Before meeting their counterparts, the visiting farmers toured on-station SIMLESA trials at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI-Embu) where Charles Mugo, KARI technician, took them through the various trials and treatments: maize and beans under minimum tillage, bean under conventional tillage, bean under minimum tillage, bean under furrow and ridge tillage, and maize and bean under furrows and ridges.

The farmers had a chance to see trials addressing the livestockresidue retention conflict among the mixed farming communities. SIMLESA has partnered with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to try out alternative fodder species. Treatments under these trials include retaining all, half, or a quarter of the residues on each plot, and intercropping the maize with Desmodium to fix nitrogen in the soil and provide animal feed.

The performance of the on-station trials and a visit to the Kyeni Innovation Platform in Embu County encouraged the farmers to scale out conservation agriculture (CA). “They are able to conserve water, especially in this area characterized by low, scarce and erratic rainfall. It has not rained for almost one and a half month in the area,” said Teresa Maitha Njiru, a member of the Kyeni Innovation Platform, explaining why her crops were robust, particularly those under furrows and ridges. Njiru, who has been practicing CA for the last four cropping seasons, hailed the practice for its productivity, environmental friendliness, and cost effectiveness. Above all, she appreciated that it is not labor-intensive. “Hakuna Kazi hapa, there is no work here,” she said, referring to the little time required to prepare and manage a CA plot. “And I only spray three days after planting for weed control,” she added.

The furrows and ridges technology stood out also for Titus Miriti from Chuka. “Ridges and furrows technology has the greatest and best effect on crop performance and the greatest benefit because this area is arid. It is very good in water retention,” Miriti pointed out, stating that CA is much more rewarding than the conventional practice.

Benson Nyakundi, technician at KARI-Kakemega and trip coordinator, noted that the CA technologies were important in boosting food security in Kenya. “New technologies like these being implemented by SIMLESA are critical in fighting food insecurity that is rampant in the country.” Lorna Oketch, Siaya County agricultural officer, praised SIMLESA for making extension services and providers a part of the project implementation team. “This will go a long way in sustaining the project even beyond the project timeframe.” The exchange visit was organized and facilitated by John Achieng and Alfred Micheni, SIMLESA site coordinators for western and eastern Kenya, respectively.

Combating Gray Leaf Spot with high-yielding and QPM maize varieties in Bhutan

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

Maize is one of the major staples in Bhutan and is cultivated by about 70 percent of households throughout the country. Poor farmers sustain their families by consuming maize as a staple food, using it as animal feed, and selling it for further income. Thus, the 2007 outbreak of Gray Leaf Spot (GLS), a new disease caused by Cercospora zeae-maydis, posed a major challenge to the Bhutanese maize program and maize farmers, many of whom lost over 70 percent of their production.

To contain the disease, the National Maize Program collaborated with the CIMMYT South Asia Regional Office in Nepal to develop or identify new GLS-tolerant maize varieties able to adapt to the high-altitude, rainfed, mountainous, maizegrowing highlands of Bhutan. Over 100 GLS-tolerant maize varieties were introduced from CIMMYT Colombia, Zimbabwe, Mexico, and Nepal, and screened at hot-spot sites where GLS occurs naturally and in abundance. Initial selections of the disease tolerant lines were made at Chaskar (1,960 masl), Mongar, by a maize research team based at the Renewal Natural Resources Research and Development Center, Wengkhar, Mongar district.

Several years of multi-location, nationally-coordinated evaluation resulted in provisional release of two entries from CIMMYT Colombia: ICAV305 and S03TLYQAB05. In 2011, over 2.6 tons of seeds were supplied to farmers affected by GLS for frontline demonstration and seed replacement. After a successful large-scale demonstration, ICAV305 and S03TLYQAB05 were recommended for formal release to the Technology Release Committee of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests, which was endorsed on 22 June 2012. The names of these two varieties are Shafangma Ashom and Chaskarpa.

The new varieties have shown 10 percent yield advantage and much higher tolerance to GLS than traditional varieties. The yield is comparable to the popular improved variety Yangtsipa (Suwan 1) grown in lower elevations. The new varieties are recommended particularly for GLS-affected areas above 1,500 masl, and for subtropical maize production zones at 600-700 masl. Both varieties have yellow flint grains, which are highly preferred by maize farmers, and are open-pollinated. Shafangma Ashom is a Quality Protein Maize (QPM), which is more nutritious than the traditional maize varieties. This is the first QPM variety released in Bhutan, and it is expected to contribute immensely to the nutritional requirements of the local population.

QPM The replacement of seeds has been facilitated through Community Based Seed Producers (CBSP) groups. In 2011 and 2012, over eight tons of seed was supplied to GLS-affected farmers in 10 districts. The average yield recorded under farmers management was 3.73 t/ ha for S03TLYQAB05, and 4.43 t/ ha for ICAV305. Production of basic and foundation seeds has started at research farms and will serve as seed source for the CBSP groups. By 2013, the National Maize Program aims to replace 80 percent of the seeds for GLSaffected farmers cultivating maize above 1,500 masl. The program cooperates with the National Seed Center and CBSP groups to achieve higher efficiency in seed replacement.

The evaluation of GLS tolerant maize varieties in Bhutan was technically supported by CIMMYT, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, and the EU. The National Maize Program is currently funded through the Decentralized Rural Development Project (World Bank).

Celebrating 15 years of partnership with South Korea

Written by on August 2, 2012. Posted in News.

On 3 May 2012, CIMMYT marked 15 years of partnership with the Rural Development Administration (RDA) of South Korea. To commemorate this anniversary, a Plaque of Appreciation recognizing CIMMYT’s outstanding contribution and commitment to enhancing the food production of the Republic of Korea through its strong partnership with RDA in research on breeding and varietal development of wheat, barley and maize, was presented to CIMMYT director general Thomas Lumpkin, BISA director of research and assistant director for the Global Wheat Program Etienne Duveiller, wheat quality expert and laboratory head Roberto Javier Peña, and wheat geneticist David Bonnett, by adjunct senior scientist in the Global Wheat Program Cheong Young-Keun on behalf of RDA administrator Hyun-Chool Park.

Corea RDA is a central government organization responsible for agricultural research and services. Since its foundation, it has helped South Korea to achieve self-sufficiency in rice and other staple food production through dissemination and promotion of high-yielding cultivars and improved cropping technologies, and contributed to the improvement of the rural environment.

RDA began its collaboration with CIMMYT in 1996 through the use of CIMMYT germplasm. As a result, 32 wheat varieties with early maturity, high yield, and fusarium resistance have been developed, including the “geumgang” variety occupying 85 percent of the wheat-cultivated area in South Korea. CIMMYT has also hosted over 50 South Korean scientists and students in various training courses, visits, and internship programs. CIMMYT hopes to continue and strengthen its partnership with RDA South Korea in the future.