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Theme: Poverty reduction, livelihoods and jobs

Empowering local mechanics for sustainable machinery maintenance

Written by Julian Bañuelos-Uribe on . Posted in Blogs.

Smallholder mechanization out scaling depends upon the availability of skilled mechanics who are fully oriented with machinery operation. However, this crucial skillset is often identified as a missing link. In many instances, lack of care or regular checks and the absence of readily available mechanics has led to the failure of mechanization projects in sub-Saharan Africa, with frequent machine breakdowns and equipment left sitting idle long after a project intervention. Across smallholder farming communities, this phenomenon can be seen through the presence of obsolete and abandoned machinery often serving as breeding grounds for birds.

The Feed the Future Zimbabwe Mechanization and Extension Activity, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), aims to break this vicious cycle by improving the skillset of local mechanics and helping them stay in tune with evolving innovations in farm machinery. Implemented by CIMMYT, this activity targets existing mechanics across ten districts in Zimbabwe, offering specialized maintenance services to providers who own machinery. Through investing in their training, local capacity to troubleshoot, service and repair machinery will increase.

For most mechanics, the training workshop presents a first-hand experience of handling small machinery. (Photo: Shiela Chikulo/CIMMYT)

Gaining practical experience

 The program approaches training through full immersion and a deep dive into the individual components of key equipment. Workstations are set up to include a diesel engine—which forms the core of most of the machinery—a two-wheel tractor and post-harvest machines such as the multi-crop thresher, feed-chopper grinder and peanut butter machine.  For most of the participants, the workshop presents them with first-hand experience of handling such machinery.

 Andy Chagudhuma and Tendai Machonesa—from Bikita and Chiredzi, respectively—were among the first ten mechanics to participate in the five-day training. “I learned about all the machines here,” says Chagudhuma, “breaking them apart and fixing them. We worked through different scenarios while perfecting our knowledge on the operation of all the machinery.” With new skills gained, they eagerly await the opportunity to offer their expertise to service providers in their local areas, and a newfound confidence fuels their commitment to providing support through repair and maintenance work.

 However, one remaining challenge is the notable absence of female participants in the training. While the field of mechanics is often male-dominated, the Mechanization Activity seeks to promote a gender-inclusive environment for local mechanics and service providers through awareness meetings and skills training. In the future, more machinery and technical trainings will be targeted specifically towards women as a way to redress this imbalance.

Overall, the benefits of the training echo far beyond the workshop itself. Through the skills acquired, opportunities for additional income generation increase, and the participation of rural youths in mechanization-oriented businesses and a thriving local economy are possible. By empowering local mechanics, the Mechanization Activity not only breathes life into their communities and the machinery sector but also paves the way for one of the project’s key objectives—the establishment of successful and entrepreneurial service providers.

Sorghum seed sales profit and empower rural women in Tanzania

Written by Mike Listman on . Posted in Features.

After years of struggles, a group of women farmers in a remote rural area of Tanzania are finally profiting and forging an enterprise based on local farmers’ high demand for certified seed of sorghum, a dryland crop first domesticated in Africa and used in food and drink, livestock feed and even building materials.

Based in Usoche village, Momba District, Songwe Region, Tanzania, the Jitegemee womens group formed in 2018 to improve their livelihoods through sorghum production. In 2022 the group produced and marketed over 3 tons of certified seed, benefiting from access to foundation and certified seed with support from project partnerships and linkages to global and local initiatives.

“Through us, many women are now educated and motivated to engage in seed production,” said Rodha Daudi Tuja, a representative of the Jitegemee group. “I think in the next season we are going to have many women seed entrepreneurs.”

Based on seed companies’ inability to fully satisfy farmers’ high demand for quality seed of sorghum, the social and behavior change interventions component of the Dryland Crops program of CIMMYT, an international research organization with longstanding partnerships and impacts in eastern and southern Africa, worked with Tanzania’s Centre for Behaviour Change and Communication (CBCC) to encourage youth and women to engage in the seed business, including marketing. Banking on previous experience, the initiative helped the women raise awareness among farmers about the value of quality, improved seed, using fliers, posters, t-shirts and caps.

“The CIMMYT behavior change interventions and CBCC reached us through youth champions who trained us on the features and benefits of improved sorghum seed,” explained Tuja.

Jitegemee women’s group members proudly showcase the sorghum seeds they offer for sale. (Photo: CBCC)

Especially important was training the women received to grow “quality declared seed” (QDS) at an event for 18 women and youth in Mbozi district conducted by The Tanzania Official Seed Certification Institute (TOSCI). QDS offers reliable quality in seed at an affordable price to farmers but is not formally inspected by official seed certification systems.

Immediately after the training, the group purchased 12 kilograms of foundation seed—genetically uniform seed that, when grown under controlled results, produces seed of ensured genetic purity and varietal identity—of the popular Macia sorghum variety from the Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) at Hombolo. They multiplied that seed following meticulous quality protocols on a leased, 1.6-hectare farm.

A previous arrangement to grow seed for a local company had fallen through after one cropping season, and the Jitegemee group ended up recycling the seed and growing it for grain for sale. Still, the group realized that selling seed could be a lucrative business, if they could only gain access to foundation seed or certified seed. As part of growing pains during that period, the group lost half its members.

“Before our contact with the CIMMYT project we had a lot of challenges,” Tuja said. “First, we did not know about improved seed, we couldn’t access information about new farming technologies, and we were doing subsistence agriculture. However, after the project we were able to access seed and information at the Youth Quality Centres and through radio programs.”

“I advise youth and my fellow women to join us because, before, we had no hope in sorghum production but now we are prospering. The demand for sorghum seed is very high, a lot of farmers are now demanding improved seeds, and our group alone cannot meet the growing demand for seed.”

We gratefully acknowledge Florian Ndyamukama, Centre for Behaviour Change and Communication (CBCC), Tanzania, for contributing this story. 

Bringing mechanization to farmers’ doorsteps

Written by Julian Bañuelos-Uribe on . Posted in Blogs.

It is a winter morning in Ward 12 of Mutare Rural district in Zimbabwe. Farmers brave the cold weather to gather around several tents lined with a range of new agricultural machinery. The number of farmers increases, and the excited chatter gets louder as they attempt to identify the different machines on display. “That is a tractor, but it just has two wheels,” says one farmer. With enthusiasm, another identifies a multi-crop thresher and peanut butter machine and asks for the prices.

The scene typifies one of several settings for an awareness meeting conducted under the Feed the Future Zimbabwe Mechanization and Extension (Mechanization) Activity, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The project operates in Zimbabwe’s Manicaland and Masvingo provinces and addresses the pressing need to improve farm power and machinery access for smallholder farmers in ten districts: Buhera, Chimanimani, Chipinge, Mutare rural, Bikita, Chiredzi, Chivi, Masvingo rural, Mwenezi and Zaka.

Awareness meetings provide community members the opportunity to interact with the Mechanization Activity Team and learn more about the machinery suitable for their farm operations. (Photo: CIMMYT)

In recent years, farmers in the region have faced a decline in cattle populations due to tick-borne diseases—the devastating ‘January disease’ (Theileriosis) hitting hardest—causing significant draft power losses. In addition, on-farm and off-farm activities have notoriously been identified as labor-intensive, time consuming and back-breaking due to the level of effort required to execute certain tasks. Activities such as post-harvest processing have also been traditionally carried out by women, who are thus disproportionally affected by drudgery. Collectively, these challenges have affected not only food production and the quality of farm yields, but also drastically impacted farming families’ potential to realize sufficient household food and income security.

“Finding the best model of extension of appropriate machinery and developing financing mechanisms for smallholder farmers has been the work of previous projects on appropriate-scale mechanization,” says Christian Thierfelder, research director for the Mechanization Activity. “In this activity, we are implementing a service provider model in Zimbabwe and are aiming to reach 150 service providers and 22,500 users of these machines in the next two years.”

Despite previous successes under initiatives such as FACASI and R4/ZAMBUKO, there remains a huge demand for affordable machines that improve farm labor and generate income for smallholder farmers. “We already see hundreds of farmers demanding to mechanize agricultural activities in our intervention areas,” explains Leon Jamann, chief of party for the project. “That is why our activity aims to collaborate with banks and microfinance institutions to bank these farmers at fair rates so that they can buy the machinery that they need and want.”

A launchpad for success

The awareness meetings have served as launchpads to acquaint farmers with appropriate machinery right at the ‘farm gate’ while affording them a chance to explore the full range on offer. Since its inception, the Mechanization Activity has showcased through live demonstrations the operation and performance of machinery including the two-wheel tractor and trailer, ripper, basin digger, boom sprayer, multi-crop thresher, feed chopper-grinder, groundnut sheller and peanut butter machine. Each machine harmonizes with on-farm and off-farm activities, easing the labor burden and improving efficiency in land preparation, harvesting and post-harvest tasks. The aim is to create demand for and trigger business interest in the machinery through a service provision model.

The model centers on the service provider, typically an individual who owns machinery and extends their services to others for a fee. In some cases, organized Internal Savings and Lending (ISAL) and Production, Productivity Lending and Savings (PPL) groups have expressed, through the awareness meetings, interest in procuring a machine for use within the group. This symbiotic relationship empowers service providers economically, while granting communities access to crucial services that improve their land and labor productivity.

In the next step, service providers are then linked with banks to finance their machinery. This ensures a sustainable approach, as the mechanization solutions are locally produced, financed and used. Enhancing these local capacities and linkages is at the core of the activity and ensures impact beyond the project life cycle.

From awareness to demand

So far, a total of 32 awareness meetings have been held across three operational hubs in Masvingo and Manicaland provinces reaching 1,637 farmers—843 females and 794 males. The impact is evident, with 475 service providers identified across 20 implementation wards.

232 participants are keen to acquire a two-wheel tractor, with a further 191 opting for trailers, 63 for rippers, 125 for multi-crop threshers, 166 for chopper grinders, 178 for peanut butter machines and 31 for groundnut shellers. Among the prospective service providers are those opting to purchase a single unit while others are choosing two, three or more units from the machinery on offer.

Beyond the numbers, the Mechanization and Extension Activity continues to appeal to women and youth through sustainable and climate-smart intensification of crop production using conservation agriculture practices, opportunities for employment creation and enhancing profitability.

Graduate intern Titos Chibi demonstrates the two-wheel tractor during an awareness meeting in Ward 10 in Bikita. (Photo: CIMMYT)

“I enjoyed learning about the service provider approach and learning about the machinery on display,” reflected Nyarai Mutsetse, a female farmer from Ward 12. “Other women even got the chance to try out the two-wheel tractor. From now on, we are going to save money in our groups and purchase some of these machines.”

Echoing the same sentiments, Patience Chadambuka was fascinated by the two-wheel tractor demonstration, and impressed that it could serve multiple purposes. “I can use it for different tasks—ferrying wood, land preparation and it can also help us raise money to take our children to school through service provision,” she said. “We are beginning to save the money, together with my husband because we would like to purchase the tractor and use it for our business.”

The Mechanization Activity awareness meetings paint a vivid picture of collaboration with other Feed the Future Zimbabwe Activities such as the Fostering Agribusiness for Resilient Markets (FARM), Resilience Anchors and Farmer to Farmer, among others. The activity harmonizes smallholder farmers with private sector enterprises, including machinery manufacturers, local mechanics, financial institutions and the Government of Zimbabwe. This collective cooperation is pivotal in helping smallholder farmers realize their mechanization business goals.

CIMMYT makes progress on some of the world’s top problems: 2022 Annual Report, “Harvesting Success”

Written by Julian Bañuelos-Uribe on . Posted in News.

CIMMYT targets some of the world’s most pressing problems: ending poverty, ensuring food for the future, mitigating climate change and improving the lives of farmers and consumers (especially women). CIMMYT is a CGIAR Research Center and has long been the world’s leading center for research on maize and wheat. This research capacity is being harnessed to achieve the crucial goals of climate resilience, and food and nutrition security.

Most of the world’s people depend on annual grain crops for their survival. Yet some of the world’s poorest men and women produce cereals. Annual grain farming has exacerbated climate change. The world’s great challenges of achieving climate resilience and nutrition security are being addressed by focusing CIMMYT’s research and development (R&D) on maize, and wheat, as well as on underutilized grain and legume crops.

Highlights from the 2022 Annual Report:

Annual cereal farming tends to release carbon into the atmosphere, while degrading the soil. Improving the soil takes years, and the high annual variation in weather demands long-term experiments. Field trials by CIMMYT over many years show that farmers can return carbon to the soil by using minimum tillage, rotating cereals with legumes, and by applying animal manure and strategic amounts of nitrogen fertilizer. As soil fertility improves, so do farmers’ yields.

Eleven million farmers in India alone produce maize, usually without irrigation, exposing families to climate-related disaster. Twenty new hybrids bred by CIMMYT out-perform commercial maize, even in drought years. One thousand tons of this heat-tolerant maize seed have now been distributed to farmers across South Asia.

Farmer Yangrong Pakhrin shells maize on his verandah in Gharcau, Kanchanpur, Nepal. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)

Some wheat is rich in zinc and iron, which prevent anemia, especially in children. Yet naturally-occurring phytic acid in wheat blocks the body’s absorption of these minerals. A technique developed by CIMMYT lowers the cost of assaying phytic acid, so plant breeders in developing countries can identify promising lines of wheat faster. CIMMYT is also helping to reduce food imports by learning how other crops, like cassava and sorghum, can be blended with wheat to make flours that consumers will accept.

Some wheat hotspots are warm, dry, and subject to plant diseases. CIMMYT collaborates with plant breeders worldwide through the International Wheat Improvement Network (IWIN) to test promising new wheat lines in these tough environments. As more places become warmer and drier with climate change, CIMMYT and allies are developing wheat varieties that will thrive there.

Harvesting more maize in the future will depend on higher yields, not on planting more land. In plant breeding programs in Africa, South Asia and Latin America, CIMMYT and partners are already developing maize varieties and hybrids that will be released in just a few years. A review of these efforts reveals that annual yield increases will be about twice the rate achieved from 1973 to 2012.

Sorghum, millets, pigeon pea, chickpea and groundnuts have been favorite food crops in Africa for centuries. They are already adapted to warm, dry climates. CIMMYT is now working with national research programs to ensure that new crop varieties have the traits that male and female farmers need. Seed systems are being organized to produce more of Africa’s preferred crops.

A group member harvests groundnut in Tanzania. (Photo: Susan Otieno/CIMMYT)

Researchers can only breed new crop varieties if someone saves the old ones from extinction. CIMMYT does that with its world-class collection of wheat and maize seed. In 2022, CIMMYT’s two separate wheat and maize germplasm banks were combined into one. Modern techniques, such as vacuum-sealed seed packets and QR codes, allow rapid response to requests for seed from plant breeders around the world.

CIMMYT is helping Nepali farmers to plant maize in the lowlands, in the spring, when most land lies fallow. In 2022, CIMMYT provided training and investment to 2,260 farmers (35% women), who earned, on average, an additional $367 in one year. The added income allowed these farmers to invest in health care and schooling for their children.

Mexican farmers are saving money, harvesting more and selling their grain more easily. Some 4,000 farmers are now selling on contract to food manufacturing companies. The farmers lower production costs by using CIMMYT innovations in irrigation, fertilizer application and ecological pest control. Yields increase, the soil improves, and farmers find a ready market for their harvest.

The stories we have highlighted in this article are just some of the ones included in the Annual Report. See the full text of all the stories in “Harvesting Success” to learn how CIMMYT scientists are doing some of the most important research, for some of the world’s best causes.

Community Business Facilitator: providing a service to farmers while increasing community access to nutritious food

Written by Julian Bañuelos-Uribe on . Posted in Features.

Bhumi Shara Khadka is a 35-year-old community business facilitator who has made significant strides in agriculture and community development. Her journey began after completing training in sales skill development and technical capacity building for community business facilitators (CBF) organized by the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) in June 2022 and April 2023, respectively. This training opened up new opportunities, and she soon secured a job as a CBF. However, her ambitions didn’t stop there.

In February 2022, the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) recognized her potential and recommended her for a role as a community business facilitator with Laxmi Agrovet, a local agribusiness. To prepare for her new position, Ms. Khadka underwent additional training in various areas, including running sales meetings, farm mechanization, post-harvest handling and the fundamentals of sales and marketing. With these tools in hand, she set out to make a difference in the lives of farmers and the broader community.

To date, Khadka has conducted 97 sales meetings with farmer groups where she explains improved production methods, plant protection, post-harvest handling and how to market agriculture products effectively. She also demonstrates and sells Laxmi Agrovet agri-inputs such as seeds, fertilizer and tools. She gets a 20% commission on sales, bringing her an average net monthly income of NPR3,375 (US$26). Her role as community business facilitator also involves linking farmers with the local government agriculture program. As a result of her efforts, three farmers have each acquired a mini power tiller at a 50% subsidy.

Bhumi Shara Khadka at her vegetable farm in Surkhet district, Nepal. (Photo: Nabin Maharjan/CIMMYT)

Inspired by Khadka’s example, Chitra Bahadur Rokaya, acting director of the Agricultural Regional Directorate in Surkhet, Nepal, has expressed his desire to visit farmers and learn more about the activities of community business facilitators like Khadka during the technical capacity-building training to CBF in April 2023. Rokaya has expressed gratitude to trainees who attended the IPM training organized by CSISA and would visit the field sites of the trainees, if possible.

Khadka has also used her knowledge as a business facilitator and IPM trainee to establish her commercial vegetable farm, which, with her investment and CSISA’s technical support, now occupies five ropani (0.01 hectares). Her husband helps out and Bhumi sells the produce at local markets in Melkuna and Badichour, Surkhet, with traders often coming to the farm to buy from her directly. Last year, she earned NPR227,000 (US$1,733) of which her net income was NPR63,500 (US$485). Since starting the farm, the family’s food habits and those of her neighbors have changed for the better. Last year, the family kept a quarter of the vegetables she produced for their consumption, and she gave about 10% to neighbors.

Last year, under Khadka’s facilitation, 48 farmers cultivated vegetables on an average of 0.02 hectares each, each achieving an average net profit of NPR63,500 (US$485). Khadka also owns a power tiller, which she rents out for others to use, earning NPR35,000 (US$267) last year from this service provision activity.

In addition to her business and professional success, Khadka completed high school in 2014, underlining the significance of her accomplishments. Khadka’s remarkable journey is an inspiring agriculture success story, showcasing the transformative power of women empowerment in rural communities. Her dedication, knowledge and entrepreneurial spirit have improved farmers’ lives and elevated the entire community’s access to nutritious food. Her unwavering commitment to her work has brought her well-deserved recognition, and she is a beacon of hope for others in similar fields of endeavor.

Breaking barriers in agriculture

Written by mcallejas on . Posted in In the media.

In Nepal, the International Water Management Institute and CIMMYT conducted research on Sustainable Intensification of Mixed Farming System (SI-MFS) in collaboration with local governments in Gurbakot Municipality of Surkhet and Haleshi Tuwachung Municipality of Khotang.

The research found a noticeable shift in farmers’ interest in farming practices, where successful implementation of innovation and scaling, it’s crucial to have farmers’ interest and ownership in interventions.

Read the full story.

Seed fairs set for Mwenezi, Masvingo

Written by mcallejas on . Posted in In the media.

CIMMYT holds the fourth edition of seed and mechanization fairs in Mwenezi and Masvingo rural districts, and introduces a groundbreaking mechanization component thanks to the Feed the Future Zimbabwe Mechanization and Extension Activity.

Read the full story.

Breaking barriers in agriculture

Written by mcallejas on . Posted in In the media.

Nepal’s traditional farming system faces labor shortages, and climate-induced risks to crop production, infrastructure, investment, and agro-advisory tools. This calls for urgently redesigning agriculture practices and addressing the challenges and a noticeable shift in farmers’ interests in farming practices.

The International Water Management Institute and CIMMYT, in collaboration with local governments in Gurbakot Municipality of Surkhet and Haleshi Tuwachung Municipality of Khotang, conducted research on Sustainable Intensification of Mixed Farming System (SI-MFS), the research found a noticeable shift in farmers’ interests in farming practices.

Read the full story.

Fodder Technology Chops Backbreaking Labor in Half for Bangladeshi Women

Written by mcallejas on . Posted in In the media.

Women play a critical role in the future of food security. Female farmers face a significant disadvantage before they ever plow a field or sow a seed. Farming is a challenging profession, and it is even more challenging for women when they perform these functions whilst facing numerous constraints.

Nur-A-Mahajabin Khan, communications officer, showcases how fodder chopper technology is improving the lives of women farmers in rural Bangladesh.

Read more.

Feed the Future Mechanization and Extension Activity

Written by mcallejas on . Posted in Uncategorized.

In 2015, the General Assembly of the African Union committed to retiring the hand hoe to museums and pushing for sustainable agricultural mechanization on the African continent.

Today, approximately 75-82% of smallholder farmers in eastern and southern Africa rely on human or animal draft power for primary tillage operations. Mechanization helps to reduce drudgery, increases productivity, and contributes to food security and increased livelihoods.

What is Feed the Future Mechanization and Extension Activity?

The Feed the Future Mechanization and Extension Activity, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), aims to improve smallholder farmers’ access to farm power and machinery to enhance their land and labor productivity.

This is achieved through three integrated components that stimulate demand for scale-appropriate machinery.

Components:

  1.  Identification of demand-driven smallholder farm machinery and building capacity of manufacturing companies to produce, repair, and import machinery for smallholder agricultural production systems.
  2. Building the capacity of local service providers to purchase, operate, and maintain farm machinery to provide mechanized services to small-scale agricultural value chain actors.
  3. Coordinate and collaborate with other FTF activities to build the capacity of interested local service providers.

What are the objectives?

  • Assess and build the capacity of smallholder machinery manufacturers and suppliers to manufacture demand-driven farm machinery.
  • Enhance land and labor productivity and income through the establishment of mechanization service provision to small scale agricultural value chain actors.
  • Promote the use of the machinery through demonstrations and other demand creation activities, and inclusive training of rural women and youth in post-harvest processing of agricultural produce to generate increased income.
  • Coordinate and collaborate with other mechanization and Feed the Future activities to build capacity of the interested service providers to be agricultural extension agents to their customers during the cropping season.
  • Support service providers, manufacturers, and distributors to access credit to acquire machinery or mechanized services.

The project sites are located in Zimbabwe’s Manicaland and Masvingo provinces with project presence implemented across 10 districts.

The Mechanization and Extension Activity will directly benefit 150 service providers who in turn will reach up to 22,500 women and men smallholder farmers through provision of mechanized services. In addition, the mechanization activity will identify and build the capacity of 30 rural mechanics and 30 technicians drawn from local farm machinery manufacturing companies and/or small and medium enterprises.

LIPS-Zim empowers smallholder farmers

Written by mcallejas on . Posted in In the media.

The Livestock Production Systems in Zimbabwe (LIPS-Zim) project implemented by CIMMYT and various research institutions in partnership with the government expects to increase incomes and ensure food security for more than 50,000 rural Zimbabweans.

Read the full story.

 

Catalyzing smallholder farming in Mexico

Written by Mike Listman on . Posted in Blogs.

Scientists from CIMMYT, founded in Mexico in 1966, have pursued decades of participatory research with Mexico’s smallholder maize farmers to improve their local varieties for traits like yield and insect resistance, while preserving their special grain quality, as well as testing and promoting zero-tillage and other resource-conserving farming practices.

Farmer Maria Luisa Gordillo Mendoza harvests a plot of maize grown with conservation agriculture techniques in her field in Nuevo MĂ©xico, Chiapas. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)

Smallholder farm operations account for more than 80% of all farms worldwide and produce roughly 35% of the world’s food, according to FAO census data and follow-up studies.

An estimated two-thirds of the Mexico’s farmers are smallholders, typically working challenging agroecologies scattered across the country’s mountainous terrain and applying generations-old subsistence practices to grow low-yielding local maize varieties.

Ancient milpa multicropping systems can lift up the present and future

The milpa intercrop — in which maize is grown together with beans, squash, or other vegetable crops — has a millennial history in the Americas and can furnish a vital supply of food and nutrients for marginalized, resource-poor communities.

One hectare of a milpa comprising maize, common beans, and potatoes can provide the annual carbohydrate needs of more than 13 adults, enough protein for nearly 10 adults, and adequate supplies of many vitamins and minerals, according to a CIMMYT-led study in the western highlands of Guatemala, an isolated and impoverished region, reported in Nature Scientific Reports in 2021.

But milpas are typically grown on much smaller areas than a hectare, so households cannot depend on this intercrop alone to satisfy their needs. A solution? Customized milpas that merge farmers’ age-old wisdom and practices with science-based innovation.

An example is planting fruit trees — guava, avocado, mango, peaches, or lime among others — among milpa crops in lines perpendicular to hill slopes. The practice was tested and promoted in the Los Tuxtlas region of the state of Veracruz by Mexico’s National Institute of Forestry, Agriculture, and Livestock Research (INIFAP) and the Colegio de Postgraduados (ColPos) and has been refined by farmers in other areas through CIMMYT-led innovation networks.

Planted milpa crops in lines perpendicular to the slope on a steep hillside in Chiapas, Mexico. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)

In Los Tuxtlas the practice provided added income and nutrition, dramatically reduced erosion, improved land and water-use efficiency by around 50%, and boosted soil health and fertility.

In the state of Puebla and other parts of South and southwestern Mexico, milpa-fruit tree intercrops have worked well on steep hillsides. In the state of Oaxaca, for example, versions of the practice have notably improved farming by indigenous communities in the Mixe and Mazateca regions, supported by outreach of the Mexican Agency for the Sustainable Development of Hillsides (AMDSL), a partner in a CIMMYT research hub in the region.

Research by AMDSL and CIMMYT on smallholder plots in two Oaxaca municipalities where farmers have been combining milpas with peach and avocado production and conservation agriculture practices for more than a decade found that cropping diversification, together with use of zero tillage and keeping crop residues on the soil rather than removing or burning them, raised total yearly crop outputs by as much as 1.7 tons per hectare and reduced farmers’ risk of catastrophic crop losses due to droughts or other climate extremes.

Blue maize pleases diners and delivers profits

Farmers’ local maize varieties yield less than hybrids but are still grown because they provide ideal grain quality for traditional foods, as well as marketable stalks and leaves to feed farm animals and maize husks for wrapping tamales, to name a few products.

Building on longstanding partnerships with INIFAP and the Autonomous University of Chapingo (UACh) to improve local varieties and preserve maize genetic diversity in Mexico, CIMMYT breeders have recently developed improved blue maize hybrids and open-pollinated varieties.

Sought by restauranteurs worldwide for its flavor and beauty, blue maize grain normally comes from native varieties grown by smallholder farmers on small plots with low yields and variable quality.

The new CIMMYT varieties are derived from traditional Guatemalan, Mexican, and Peruvian landraces and feature higher yields, more consistent grain quality, and enhanced resistance to common maize diseases, offering smallholders and other Mexican farmers a profitable product for the country’s booming restaurant industry and for export chains.

Selection of corn varieties for the state of Morelos, Mexico. (Photo: ACCIMMYT)

Parental inbred lines of the new hybrids have been distributed to private and public partners, who are developing their own hybrids and OPVs in Mexico. CIMMYT continues to test the new hybrids under various farming systems to ensure they produce stable yields when grown in farmers’ fields.

Data driven extension

Using cutting-edge data systems, CIMMYT has leveraged information from nearly 200,000 plots representing more than 26,000 hectares across diverse agroecologies to offer Mexican farmers — including smallholders — site-specific recommendations that make their farming systems more productive, resilient, and sustainable. The initiative was supported by MasAgro, an integrated development partnership of Mexico and CIMMYT during 2010-21 and funded by Mexico’s Secretariat of Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER).

Smallholder Mexican farmers adopt resource-conserving innovations: slowly and in bits

Written by Mike Listman on . Posted in Blogs.

Small-scale farmers in Mexico often adopt conservation agriculture innovations gradually and piecemeal, to fit their diverse agroecological and socioeconomic contexts and risk appetites, according to studies and the on-farm experience of CIMMYT.

Research and extension efforts need to consider this in work with smallholders, said Santiago Lopez-Ridaura, a CIMMYT specialist in agricultural systems and climate change adaptation.

“Farmer practices typically involve heavy tillage before seeding, growing maize as a monocrop, and removing crop residues after harvest for use as forage,” explained Lopez-Ridaura. “Full-on conservation agriculture (CA) is a radical shift, requiring farmers to reduce or eliminate tillage, keep a permanent cover of crop residues on the soil, and diversify the crops they grow. It can support more intense yet environmentally friendly farming, reducing erosion, improving soil fertility and water filtration, boosting crop yields, and saving farmers money. However, it also requires purchasing or contracting specialized sowing implements and fencing fields or agreeing with neighbors to keep livestock from eating all the residues, to name just a few changes.”

Conserving crop residues favors production systems and provides various benefits. (Photo: Simon Fonteyne/CIMMYT)

Lopez-Ridaura and colleagues published a 2021 analysis involving farmers who grew maize and sorghum and keep a few livestock on small landholdings (less than 4 hectares), with limited mechanization and irrigation, in the state of Guanajuato, Central Mexico.

They found that scenarios involving hybrid maize plus a legume crop with zero-tillage or keeping a residue mulch on the soil provided an average net profit of some US $1,600 (MXP 29,000) per year, in addition to ecological benefits, added forage, and more stable output under climate stress.

“Using a modeling framework from Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) that combines bioeconomic simulation, risk analysis, adoption theory, and impact assessment, we not only confirmed the worth of conservation agriculture but found that disaggregating CA into smaller component packages and including a more productive crop and variety were likely to increase farmers’ adoption, in riskier settings.”

Advancing more sustainable farming in Mexico

Conservation agriculture can generate substantial economic and environmental benefits under marginal conditions, particularly by enhancing climate change resilience, increasing soil organic matter, and retaining soil moisture. In Central Mexico dryland maize yields rose by 38-48%, after 10 years of implementing CA.

CIMMYT’s multi-crop, multi-use zero tillage seeder at work on a long-term conservation agriculture (CA) trial plot, left, at the center’s headquarters at El BatĂĄn, Mexico. (Photo credit: CIMMYT)

CIMMYT has studied and promoted zero-tillage for maize and other resource-conserving practices in Mexico for more than three decades, but efforts to spread sustainable farming and use of improved maize and wheat varieties redoubled thanks to MasAgro, a research initiative led by the Center and supported by the government of Mexico during 2010-21. Testimonials such abound of Mexican smallholder farmers who have adopted and benefited from CA practices through CIMMYT and national partners’ efforts in MasAgro and other initiatives.

  • Looking to lower his farm costs without losing output, wheat and oil crop farmer Alfonso Romo of Valle de Mayo, state of Sonora, began practicing CA in 2010. “We’ve learned a lot and this year (2022) we obtained the same yields as we used to get through conventional practices but, following more sustainable farming methods, with a 30 and even 40% savings in fertilizer.”
  • With CA practices he adopted in 2018 through MasAgro, maize farmer Rafael Jacobo of Salvatierra, state of Guanajuato, obtained a good crop despite the late dispersal of irrigation water. Seeing his success and that of other nearby farmers, neighbor Jorge Luis Rosillo began using CA techniques and has noticed yearly improvements in his soil and yields. “I did everything the technicians recommended: keeping the residues on the soil and renewing only the sowing line on soil beds
. There are lots of advantages but above all the (cost) savings in land preparation.”
The Milpa Sustentable project in the Yucatan Peninsula is recognized by the UN as a world example of sustainable development. (Photo: CIMMYT)
  • Farmers in the Milpa Sustentable project in the YucatĂĄn Peninsula have improved maize yields using locally adapted CA methods, in collaboration with the Autonomous University of YucatĂĄn. Former project participant Viridiana Sei said she particularly liked the respectful knowledge sharing between farmers and project technicians.
  • CA practices have allowed more than 320 women farmers in the Mixteca Region of the state of Oaxaca to provide more and better forage for the farm animals they depend on, despite drought conditions, through the Crop and Livestock Conservation Agriculture (CLCA) project supported by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). According to farmer MarĂ­a MartĂ­nez Cruz, “… it hasn’t rained much and everything’s dry, but our verdant oat crop is allowing us to keep our farm animals fed.”
  • With CLCA support and facing Mexico’s increasingly fickle rainy season, farmer Mario GuzmĂĄn Manuel of San Francisco ChindĂșa village in Oaxaca began using CA and says he’ll never go back to the old practices. “We used to do as many as two harrow plowings to break up the soil, but if we leave the residues from the previous crop, they hold in the soil moisture more effectively. People hang onto the old ways, preferring to burn crop residues, but we should understand that this practice only deprives the soil of its capacity to produce.”

A Mexican farm research program gains praise and interest for use abroad

Written by Mike Listman on . Posted in Blogs.

Leveraging the leadership, science, and partnerships of the Mexico-based CIMMYT and the funding and research capacity of Mexico’s Secretariat of Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER) during 2010-21, the program known as “MasAgro” has helped up to 500,000 participating farmers to adopt improved maize and wheat varieties and resource-conserving practices on more than 1 million hectares of farmland in 30 states of Mexico.

Tlaltizapan Experimental Station in Morelos, Mexico is used through the winter for drought and heat trials and through the summer for yield-trials and biofortification. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés/CIMMYT)

As a result of MasAgro research hubs operating across Mexico’s multiple and diverse agroecologies to promote the sustainable intensification of maize and wheat farming systems — including improved varieties and resource-conserving, climate-smart practices — yields of project participants for maize were 20% higher and for wheat 3% higher than local averages. Similarly, average net incomes for participating maize farmers were 23% greater and 4% greater for wheat farmers, compared to local averages.

The MasAgro biodiversity component gathered and analyzed one of the world’s largest-ever samplings of maize and wheat genetic diversity, including CIMMYT’s own vast seed bank collections, to help identify and characterize new genes of interest for breeding. As one result, more than 2 billion genetic data points and over 870,000 data entries from associated field trials are freely available to the scientific community, via the project’s online repository.

MasAgro has involved national and local research organizations, universities, companies, and non-government organizations working through more than 40 research platforms and 1,000 demonstration modules, while building the capacity of thousands of farmers and hundreds of technical and extension experts who serve them.

State-level partners sign on to MasAgro

Through MasAgro, CIMMYT entered into research and development partnerships with 12 Mexican states. An example is the mountainous, central Mexican state of Guanajuato, home to the El Bajío region, one of Mexico’s most productive farm areas but which also suffers from soil degradation, water scarcity, and climate change effects — challenges faced by farmers throughout Mexico. The governor of Guanajuato visited CIMMYT headquarters in Mexico in June 2023 to review progress and agree on follow-up activities.

MasAgro generated more sustainable production and irrigation systems in Guanajuato, Mexico. (Photo: ACCIMMYT)

CIMMYT has worked with Guanajuato state and local experts and farmers themselves to test and promote innovations through 7 research platforms reaching nearly 150,000 hectares. As of 2020, new crop varieties and resource-conserving, climate-smart management practices had helped underpin increases of 14% in irrigated wheat production and, under rainfed farming systems, improved outputs of 28% for beans, 150% for local maize varieties and 190% for hybrid maize, over state averages.

An integral soil fertility initiative has included the analysis and mapping of more than 100,000 hectares of farmland, helping Guanajuato farmers to cut costs, use fertilizer more effectively, and reduce the burning of crop residues and associated air pollution.

Service centers for the rental and repair of conservation agriculture machinery are helping to spread practices such as zero tillage and residue mulches. Supported by CIMMYT advisors, Guanajuato farmers are entering into equitable and ecologically friendly production agreements with companies such as Nestle, Kellogg’s, and Heineken, among other profitable and responsible public-private arrangements.

Acclaim and interest abroad for MasAgro

MasAgro has received numerous awards and mentions as a model for sustainable agricultural development. A few examples:

Dignitaries applaud MasAgro launch at CIMMYT. (Photo: Xochiquetzal Fonseca/CIMMYT)
  • The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) mentioned the program as an example of successful extension.
  • The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) cited MasAgro for promoting productive and sustainable agriculture.
  • The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) lauded MasAgro for promoting climate-resilient agriculture.
  • During the 2018 G20 summit in Argentina, MasAgro was considered a model for coordinating agricultural research, development, innovation, technology transfer, and public-private partnerships.
  • Bram Govaerts, now Director General of CIMMYT, received the 2014 Norman Borlaug Field Award for his work at the time as leader of MasAgro’s farmer outreach component.
  • MasAgro research hubs were recently used as a guide by USAID for efforts in Sudan and Eastern Africa. They have also been replicated in Guatemala and Honduras.

Moving out and beyond

In Central America and Mexico, the inter-connected crises of weak agri-food systems, climate change, conflict, and migration have worsened, while small-scale farmers and marginalized sectors remain mired in poverty.

Capitalizing on its experience in MasAgro, CIMMYT is a major partner in the recently launched CGIAR initiative, AgriLAC Resiliente, which aims to build the resilience, sustainability, and competitiveness of agrifood systems and actors in Latin America and the Caribbean, helping them to meet urgent food security needs, mitigate climate hazards, stabilize vulnerable communities, and reduce forced migration. The effort will focus on farmers in Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Peru.

Farmer Marilu Meza Morales harvests her maize in ComitĂĄn, Mexico. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)

As described in a 2021 science journal article, CIMMYT also helped create the integrated agri-food system initiative (IASI), a methodology that was developed and validated through case studies in Mexico and Colombia, and leverages situation analysis, model predictions, and scenarios to synchronize public and private action toward sustainable, equitable, and inclusive agri-food systems.

“CIMMYT’s integrated development approach to maize system transformation in Mexico and Colombia laid the foundations for the IASI methodology by overcoming government transitions, annual budget constraints, and win-or-lose rivalries between stakeholders, in favor of equity, profitability, resilience and sustainability,” said Govaerts.

The 2021 Global Agricultural Productivity (GAP) report “Strengthening the Climate for Sustainable Agricultural Growth” endorsed IASI, saying it “
is designed to generate strategies, actions and quantitative, Sustainable-Development-Goals-aligned targets that have a significant likelihood of supportive public and private investment.”

SPG Coalition: CIMMYT is a leading organization for climate-smart agriculture, nutrient-use efficiency, and pest and fertilizer management

Written by Julian Bañuelos-Uribe on . Posted in Blogs.

The Coalition on Sustainable Productivity Growth for Food Security and Resource Conservation (SPG Coalition) brings together researchers, non-governmental organizations, and private sector partners to advance a world with greater access to nutritious food and affordable diets. The Coalition recognizes that increasing the productivity of natural resources through climate adaptation and mitigation is instrumental to reaching this goal.

In a recent report, the SPG Coalition provides a path forward for NGOs, research institutions, and government agencies to strengthen agrifood and climate policies. The report contains real-life, evidence-based examples to further the sustainable production and conservation of natural resources, detailing the potential impacts on social, economic, and environmental conditions.

CIMMYT features prominently in the report as a leading organization focused on 4 main areas: climate-smart agriculture, nutrient-use efficiency (NUE), and pest and fertilizer management.

Nutrient-use efficiency and fertilizer management

While chemical fertilizers increase crop yields, excessive or improper use of fertilizers contributes to greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and increases labor costs for smallholders. Efficient NUE is central to nutrient management and climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Women using spreader for fertilizer application. (Photo: Wasim Iftikar/CSISA)

In India, CIMMYT, along with the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA), CGIAR Research Centers, and regional partners, tested digital tools like the Nutrient Expert (NE) decision support tool which measures proper fertilizer use for optimized yields and provides nutrient recommendations based on local soil conditions.

The majority of smallholders who applied the NE tool reported higher yields while emitting less GHG emissions by 12-20% in wheat and by around 2.5% in rice as compared with conventional fertilization practices. Farmers also recorded double economic gains: increased yields and reduced fertilizer costs. Wider government scaling of NE could enhance regional food security and mitigate GHG emissions.

The Feed the Future Nepal Seed and Fertilizer (NSAF) project, led by CIMMYT and USAID, advocates for climate-smart agriculture by linking smallholders with improved seed, providing capacity-building programs, and promoting efficient fertilizer use. With a vast network established with the support from the Government of Nepal, NSAF successfully provides smallholders with expanded market access and nutritious and climate-resilient crop varieties.

Climate-smart maize breeding 

Since its arrival to sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in 2016, fall armyworm (FAW) has devastated maize harvests for countless smallholders on the continent. Economic uncertainty caused by unstable yields and climate stressors like drought coupled with this endemic pest risk aggravating food insecurity.

Fall armyworm. (Photo: Jennifer Johnson/CIMMYT)

CIMMYT and NARES Partner Institutions in Eastern and Southern Africa are spearheading a robust pest management project to develop, screen, and introduce genetically resistant elite maize hybrids across SSA. South Sudan, Zambia, Kenya, and Malawi have already deployed resistant maize varieties, and eight other countries in the region are projected to release their own in 2023. These countries are also conducting National Performance Trials (NPTs) to increase awareness of host plant resistance for the sustainable control of FAW and to sensitize policymakers on accelerating the delivery of FAW-tolerant maize varieties.

The establishment of FAW screening facilities in Africa permits more rapid detection and breeding of maize varieties with native genetic resistance to FAW, facilitating increased deployment of these varieties across Africa. The sustainable control of FAW demands a rapid-response effort, overseen by research organizations and governments, to further develop and validate genetic resistance to fall armyworms. Achieving greater impact for maize smallholders is critical to ensuring improved income and food security in Africa. It is also paramount for biodiversity conservation and removing labor burden on farmers applying additional synthetic pesticides to prevent further losses by the pest.

“The SPG Coalition report emphasizes the power of partnership to enhance financial and food security for smallholder communities in the Global South. This is fully in line with the recently launched CIMMYT 2030 strategy. It’s also an important reminder to assess our strong points and where more investment and collaboration is needed,” said Bram Govaerts, CIMMYT director general.