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Theme: Poverty reduction, livelihoods and jobs

What’s the link between two-wheel tractors and elephants?

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

CIMMYT principal scientist Frédéric Baudron has two main research interests: making mechanization appropriate to smallholders and biodiversity conservation.

Wondering how these two intersect, a colleague of Baudron once asked him what the link was between an elephant and a tractor?

Now, in the recent report, “Addressing agricultural labour issues is key to biodiversity-smart farming research,” published in Biological Conservation, Baudron and other contributors have answered that question, examining trade-offs between labor and biodiversity conceptually, as well as in the specific context of Indonesia and Ethiopia.

This research continues work CIMMYT has done on the relationship between agriculture and biodiversity, including Commodity crops in biodiversity-rich production landscapes: Friends or foes? The example of cotton in the Mid Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe and Sparing or sharing land? Views from agricultural scientists

Innovations in agricultural technology have led to undeniable achievements in reducing the physical labor needed to extract food from fields. Farm mechanization and technologies such as herbicides have increased productivity, but also became on the other hand major threats to biological diversity.

Adopting technologies that improve the productivity of labor benefits farmers in multiple ways, including a reduction of economic poverty, time poverty (i.e., lack of discretionary time, reducing labor drudgery), and child labor. Conversely, technologies that promote biodiversity often increase the burden of labor, leading to limited adoption by farmers. Therefore, there is a need to develop biodiversity-smart agricultural development strategies, which address biodiversity conservation goals and socio-economic goals, specifically raising land and labor productivity. This is especially true in the Global South, where population growth is rapid and much of the world’s remaining biodiversity is located.

“Without accounting for labor issues biodiversity conservation efforts will not be successful or sustainable,” said Baudron. “Because of this, we wanted to examine what biodiversity-smart agriculture might look like from a labor point of view.”

Research has quantified that farming families in Africa who use tractors expended an average of 640 labor hours per hectare in maize cultivation. In contrast, farmers not using tractors spent over 1100 hours for the same yield.

Practicing tractor operation at Toluca experiment station (Photo: X. Fonseca/CIMMYT)

Trade-offs

While that is a clear win for reducing the heavy physical toil of farming, there are potential negative effects on biodiversity. In many countries in the Global North, the rise of tractors and other big machinery has led to larger and more rectangular fields and the removal of farm trees and hedgerows, all of which is associated with lower biodiversity. The same is now happening in parts of the Global South.

“A trade-off implies that one goal can only be achieved at the expense of another goal,” said Baudron. “It is not always a conscious choice; however, as farmers often adopt labor-saving techniques without considering the effects on biodiversity, simply because they lack options, and sometimes the necessary context.”

In Indonesia, the transition from harvesting rubber to producing palm oil has reduced the amount of physical labor, but biological diversity has decreased. However, innovations such as reducing fertilizer usage to avoid nutrient leaching into soil have been possible without compromising yield, and with the benefit of lower costs to farmers.

In Ethiopia, labor-saving technologies like the use of small-scale combine harvesters have been compatible with high biodiversity.

“I tell my colleagues a two-wheel tractor that allows mechanization with little negative environmental consequence (compatible with a mosaic of small, fragmented fields, with on-farm scattered trees, etc.) contributes to a landscape that works for people and biodiversity, including elephants,” said Baudron.

The lessons of Indo-US cooperation in agriculture

Written by Julian Bañuelos-Uribe on . Posted in In the media.

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) played a significant role in India’s agricultural development during the 1950s and 1960s. A brief history of this involvement – through the Green Revolution – is useful to understand CIMMYT’s journey of strengthening global partnerships.

Read the full story here.

A promising partnership

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

In August 2022, the arrival of a container ship at the port in Cotonou, Benin signaled a major milestone in a developing South-South business relationship that holds the potential to produce a massive change in agricultural practices and output in Benin and across West Africa.

The delivery of six-row seeder planters from India marks the initial fruit of a collaboration between Indian manufacturer Rohitkrishi Industries and Beninese machinery fabricator and distributor Techno Agro Industrie (TAI) that has been two years in the making.

Connecting partners in the Global South

A major area of focus for the Green Innovation Centers for the Agriculture and Food Sector (GIC) projects launched in 15 countries by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development’s special initiative One World No Hunger is fostering cooperation between nations in the Global South.

Krishna Chandra Yadav laser levels land for rice planting in Sirkohiya, Bardiya, Nepal (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)

This story began through the partnership between the Green Innovation Centers for the Agriculture and Food Sector and The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) to increase agricultural mechanization in 14 countries in Africa and 2 in Asia.

GIC in India has been working with Rohitkrishi to develop appropriate mechanization solutions for smallholding farmers in India since 2017.

Under this new cross-border goal, GIC India discussed with Rohitkrishi the opportunity to adapt machines to the agroecological and socio-economic systems of African countries where continued use of traditional farming methods was drastically limiting efficiency, productivity, and yield. Rohitkrishi assessed the need and pursued this opportunity for long-term business expansion.

Small machines for smallholders

Before connecting with farmers and manufacturers in Benin, Rohitkrishi was busy solving problems for smallholding farmers in India, where large manufacturers focus on agricultural machinery designed and produced to meet the needs of the bigger, commercial farms. Sameer Valdiya of GIC India and Sachin Kawade of Rohitkrishi put their heads together to develop a plan for producing machines that could make a difference—and then convince smallholding farmers to try them.

A farmer pulls a row seeder, Maharashtra, India. (Photo: Green Innovation Center-India)

By adapting an existing machine and incorporating continuous feedback from farmers, they created a semi-automatic planter. This unique, co-creative process was accompanied by an equally important change in farmer mindset and behavior—from skepticism to the demonstrated impact and cost-benefit of the planter that was clear to each farmer.

These farmers were the first to adopt the technology and promoted it to their peers. Their feedback also drove continued improvements—a fertilizer applicator, new shaft and drive, safety features, night-lights and (perhaps most importantly) a multi-crop feature to make it useful for planting potatoes, ginger, and turmeric.

Today, Rohitkrishi has distributed 52 semi-automatic planters across India, and these machines are being used by up to 100 farmers each. Users are seeing a 17-20 percent increase in productivity, with an accompanying increase in income, and 30 percent of users are women.

The seeders are a roaring success, but Rohitkrishi is focused on continued improvement and expansion. As they continue to respond to adjustments needed by farmers, the company plans to sell 1000 semi-automatic planters per year by 2025. Reaching that goal will require both domestic and foreign sales.

Market opportunity meets technological need

Thanks to the active partnership of CIMMYT and Programme Centres d’Innovations Vertes pour le secteur agro-alimentaire (ProCIVA), TAI in Benin emerged as a promising early adopter of Rohitkrishi’s planters outside India. Seeing a remarkable opportunity to establish a foothold that could open the entire West African market to their products, Rohitkrishi began the painstaking process of redesigning their machine for a new context.

This ambitious project faced numerous challenges–from language barriers, to the definition of roles amongst major players, to major COVID-19 and supply chain delays. The arrival of the seeders, however, is a major accomplishment. Now Rohitkrishi and TAI will begin working with government representatives and farmer-based organizations to ensure the equipment performs well on the ground and meets Benin’s agroecological requirements.

Once final testing is completed in the coming months, Rohitkrishi’s seeders will have the chance to demonstrate what a difference they can make for soy and rice production in Benin.

“When developing countries with similar contexts and challenges forge alliances and business connections to share their knowledge, expertise, and problem-solving skills with each other, this kind of direct South-South collaboration produces the most sustainable advances in agricultural production, food security, and job creation,” said Rabe Yahaya, agricultural mechanization specialist at CIMMYT.

Scale mechanization through a starter pack that comprises a two-wheel tractor – a double row planter as well as a trailer and sheller (Photo: CIMMYT)

Meanwhile, CIMMYT is studying this pilot project to identify opportunities for reproducing and expanding its success. Through the Scaling Scan–a web-based, user-friendly tool to assess ten core ingredients necessary to scale-up any innovation–CIMMYT is helping Rohitkrishi and TAI set ambitious and reachable goals for scalability.

Most importantly, the Scaling Scan results will identify areas for course correction and help Rohitkrishi and its partners continue to be sensitive to farmer feedback and produce equipment better suited to needs on the ground.

CGIAR Initiative: Breeding Resources

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in Uncategorized.

Crop breeding has the potential to significantly contribute to addressing the global challenges of poverty, malnutrition, hunger, gender inequality, environmental degradation and climate change. Rapid population growth, climate change and market crises in low-income and middle-income countries mean that crop breeding must be far more agile and professional than ever before. Data-driven, modernized breeding with tools and technologies such as genomic selection, quantitative genetics, high-throughput phenotyping and bioinformatics, are needed to accelerate and advance improvement in varieties.  

Across the CGIAR-NARES (National Agricultural Research and Extension Systems) crop breeding networks, there is huge opportunity to reach the full potential to improve the lives of farmers and consumers: to share innovations to their full potential; reduce costs associated with services such as bioinformatics; de-fragment disparate data and incompatible technologies; apply consistent standards; and improve access to tools, technologies and shared services.

This Initiative aims to improve the genetic, economic, social and environmental performance of breeding programs across the CGIAR-NARES breeding network.

This objective will be achieved through:

  • Undertaking strategic modernization so that breeding schemes are designed using the most up-to-date methods, namely: quantitative genetics and computer simulation, including modeling of adoption and benefits across the breeding network, and budget forecasting for management of the portfolio and operational improvements. 
  • Delivering cost-effective shared services through coordinating services such as genotyping and data management, leading to efficiency and greater bargaining power in purchasing or contracting equipment, software and services, ultimately enabling the generation and analysis of high-quality and consistent data across the breeding network. 
  • Implementing performance management of consistent, connected operations through a dedicated performance management team supporting breeding programs and data management teams in describing, harmonizing and adopting standard operating protocols, workflow charts and quality controls across the networks. 
  • Making smarter use of data, enabling CGIAR-NARES networks to share standardized data, creating larger and more powerful datasets that can be readily analyzed and interpreted. 
  • Promoting innovation and research exchange through developing and implementing change management plans, and supporting region-specific capacity building to increase global adoption of modernized breeding tools, technologies and shared services across the network.

This Initiative will work with breeding programs serving countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, along with Asia and Latin America. High-priority countries for the Initiative include Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Zambia in Africa, and Bangladesh and India in South Asia.

Proposed 3-year outcomes include:

  1. Varieties are developed 30% faster for 70% of targeted breeding programs. 
  2. Shared services reduce costs by 25% in a majority of target programs, making modernized breeding more accessible across the global CGIAR-NARES networks. 
  3. At least 70% of targeted breeding programs make data-driven decisions using genomic, phenotypic and environmental data at more than one major decision point. 
  4. At least a 70% improvement of Initiative’s targeted breeding programs in at least 50% of impact area tracking indicators as a result of CGIAR-NARES leadership. 
  5. Increased capacity in at least 15 NARES institutions, demonstrated by increased access to tools, technologies and shared services (of more than one type) more than once a year. 
  6. A least 70% of the Initiative’s targeted continuous breeding programs increase or add at least one target to their modernization plan. 
  7. Standardized protocols shared in a common system. 
  8. Harmonized operations enabling consistent data generation. 
  9. Adoption of quality management system within facilities. 
  10. Establishment of Breeding Pipeline Improvement Monitoring System to support informative performance monitoring that reduces the complexity of breeding activities to the core metrics material for decision-making, as aligned to shared goals. 
  11. Establishment of performance monitoring system to track implementation of standardized processes and quality of operations along with modernization progress and the impacts of the resulting breeding program. 

CGIAR Initiative: Seed Equal

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in Uncategorized.

Inadequate seed supply and delivery systems, sometimes also misaligned with user and market demand, mean that smallholders often recycle seed or use older varieties, leaving them more vulnerable to pests and diseases.  Small-scale farmers, especially women and other disadvantaged groups, are particularly vulnerable to climate-related challenges, such as more frequent and severe droughts and erratic rainfall. Additionally, farmers may not be well informed about varietal options available to them or may be reluctant to experiment with new varieties. These challenges threaten agricultural production and can compromise their ability to meet their own food, nutrition and income needs.  

Improved varieties, innovations and approaches developed and promoted by CGIAR and partners could transform agrifood systems and reduce yield gaps, “hunger months” and other disparities. However, limited access to and use of affordable, quality seed of well-adapted varieties with desired traits, means these bottlenecks remain. 

This Initiative aims to support the delivery of seed of improved, climate-resilient, market-preferred and nutritious varieties of priority crops, embodying a high rate of genetic gain to farmers, ensuring equitable access for women and other disadvantaged groups.

This objective will be achieved through:

  • Supporting demand-driven cereal seed systems for more effective delivery of genetic gains from One CGIAR cereal breeding, as well as improving government, private sector and farmer-based capacity to deliver productive, resilient and preferred varieties to smallholders. 
  • Boosting legume seed through a demand-led approach that builds on growing demand for grain legumes. This multistakeholder approach will strengthen partnerships to provide efficient, more predictable and demand-led access to quality seed of new varieties. 
  • Scaling and delivering vegetatively propagated crop seed through sustainable enhanced delivery pathways that efficiently target different market segments and farmer preferences. 
  • Supporting partnerships (including with smallholders), capacity building and coordination to ensure uptake of public-bred varieties and other innovations by providing technical assistance for national agricultural research and extension systems (NARES) and foundation seed organizations in early-generation seed production and on-farm demonstrations. 
  • Developing and implementing policies for varietal turnover, seed quality assurance and trade in seeds by leveraging global expertise and experience to generate both the evidence and engagement necessary to advance efficient, sustainable, and inclusive seed markets that promote varietal turnover and wider adoption. 
  • Scaling equitable access to quality seed and traits in order to reach the unreached and provide inclusive access while addressing gender and social constraints and the digital divide. 

Engagement

This Initiative will work in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Mozambique, Nepal, Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania as a priority, followed by other countries in Latin America, South and Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. 

Outcomes

Proposed 3-year outcomes include:

  1. Robust tools developed and used by funders, developers, researchers and extension staff to sustainably measure and monitor key seed system metrics. 
  2. Increase of 10% in the quantity of quality seed of improved “best-fit” and farmer-preferred varieties available to farmers in representative crops and geographies due to increased capacity of seed companies and other seed multipliers (including farm-based seed actors).  
  3. Public and private seed enterprises adopting innovative and transformative models for accessing, disseminating and multiplying quality early-generation seed, reducing cost and increasing output. 
  4. Reduction of 5% in weighted average varietal age for priority crops in selected countries.     
  5. Government partners in policy design and implementation actively promote policy solutions to accelerate varietal turnover, adoption and quality seed use. 

CGIAR Initiative: Accelerated Breeding

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in Uncategorized.

Resource-poor farmers in low-income and middle-income countries will hugely benefit from improved crop varieties that perform better in terms of nutritional quality, income generation, water and nutrient use, stability of yields under climate change, and the needs of both women and men as farmers and as consumers.  

However, many smallholder farmers still grow old varieties, in part because they derive inadequate benefits from recent breeding efforts. To trigger timely adoption, new varieties must be widely available and affordable to farmers, and offer a step-change in performance through higher rates of genetic gain. A faster pace of varietal turnover is critical – to enable farmers to adapt and advance rapidly as climatic and market conditions change. 

Breeding programs also need a greater focus on developing farmer- and consumer- preferred varieties adapted to distinct production environments, markets and end uses. This can be facilitated by smarter design of breeding programs; stronger partnerships between CGIAR, National Agricultural Research and Extension Systems (NARES) and small and medium enterprises (SMEs); and strengthened organizational capacity.

This Initiative aims to develop better-performing, farmer-preferred crop varieties and to decrease the average age of varieties in farmers’ fields, providing real-time adaptation to climate change, evolving markets and production systems. 

The objective will be achieved through:

  • Re-focusing breeding teams and objectives on farmers’ needs, in particular the needs of women, through achievable product profiles and breeding pipelines targeting prioritized regions and market segments. 
  • Reorganizing breeding teams to drive efficiency gains through the coordinated engagement of specialists and processes using a common organizational framework, stage gates, key performance indicators and handover criteria. 
  • Transforming towards inclusive, impactful CGIAR-NARES-SME breeding networks with empowered partners, along with customized capacity building, standardized key performance indicators, and by dividing labor and resources across partners according to comparative advantage and aligned with national priorities. 
  • Discovering optimum traits and deployments through agile, demand-driven and effective trait discovery and deployment pipelines, and development of elite donor lines with novel and highly valuable traits. 
  • Accelerating population improvement and variety identification through optimizing breeding pipelines (trailing, parent selection, cycle time, use of Breeding Resources tools and services, etc.), with the goal of assuring all programs deliver market-demanded varieties that deliver greater rates of genetic gain per dollar invested. 

Engagement

This Initiative will work with breeding programs serving countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia, along with Asia and Latin America. Priority countries for the Initiative include Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe in Africa, and Bangladesh and India in South Asia. 

Outcomes

Proposed 3-year outcomes include:

  1. At least 75% of breeding pipelines are oriented towards specific market segments, enabling greater focus on farmers’ needs, drivers of adoption, distinct impact areas and the strategic allocation of resources. 
  2. At least 70% of breeding pipelines use a revised organizational framework that provides operational clarity and effectiveness for specialized teams pursuing breeding outputs. 
  3. At least 80% of the breeding networks have implemented documented steps toward stronger partnership models where NARES and SMEs have increased breeding capacity, and make greater scientific, operational and decision-making contributions to the breeding process. 
  4. At least 50% of breeding pipelines are supported by a dedicated trait discovery and deployment program that delivers high-impact traits in the form of elite parental lines. 
  5. At least 70% of breeding pipelines have increased the rate of genetic gain in the form of farmer-preferred varieties, with at least 50% providing significantly improved varieties delivered to seed system recipients.    

CGIAR Initiative: Market Intelligence

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in Uncategorized.

Decisions on how to invest scarce resources in CGIAR-NARES genetic innovation systems have been predominantly supply-driven and therefore potentially out-of-sync with the demands of smallholders, consumers and agro-industry. The turnover of improved crop varieties developed by CGIAR and its NARES partners (National Agricultural Research and Extension Services) has been slow. Small-scale seed businesses lack incentives to actively promote new varieties given weak demand. Little is known about the drivers of varietal replacement and product substitution, and the role of downstream market actors such as traders, processors and consumers in this process.  

There is a clear need for demand- and data-driven processes to guide genetic innovation systems, but efforts to advance this remain incomplete and fragmented within CGIAR. Current product profile design is strongly biased towards agronomic and stress-tolerance traits, with little systematic identification and integration of traits that contribute to wider social impact. 

This Initiative aims to maximize CGIAR and partners’ returns on investment in breeding, seed systems and other Initiatives based on reliable and timely market intelligence that enables stronger demand orientation and strengthens co-ownership and co-implementation by CGIAR and partners.

This objective will be achieved through:

  • Gathering market intelligence by collecting data to map global and regional challenges across CGIAR’s five impact areas, translating them into regional market segments and priorities for genetic innovation by identifying drivers of demand as well as variation by gender, age and social group.
  • Designing new-generation, gender-intentional target product profiles for each market segment using market intelligence. 
  • Generating behavioral intelligence based on what drives farmers, consumers and private-sector decisions to adopt new varieties and supporting other Initiatives in identifying cost-effective inclusive strategies for accelerating varietal uptake. 
  • Developing pipeline investment cases by estimating the potential impact and return on investment across CGIAR’s five impact areas of the portfolio of breeding pipelines serving the market segments and developing recommendations for the portfolio optimization and prioritization. 
  • Developing institutional scaling and monitoring, evaluation, learning and impact assessment (MELIA) by establishing a collaboration hub across Genetic Innovation Initiatives and partners to develop scaling mechanisms for the adoption of institutional standards and processes in market segmentation and gender-intentional product profile design, and to conduct rigorous MELIA of the portfolio. 

Engagement

This Initiative has a global and regional focus, with countries being prioritized as a result of the Initiative’s work. 

Outcomes

Proposed 3-year outcomes include:

  1. At least three transdisciplinary teams across CGIAR and partners in prioritized regions are empowered in co-implementation of market and behavioral intelligence and co-design of product profiles. 
  2. At least 10 CGIAR partners in prioritized regions adopt institutional standards and processes for market segmentation and product profile design, sharing of market and behavioral intelligence and monitoring of outcomes. 
  3. At least five seed suppliers, food companies and NGOs in prioritized regions use market and behavioral intelligence from the Initiative in strategic decision-making. 
  4. At least three research leaders and investors make investment decisions using pipeline investment cases and the Initiative’s investor dashboard and the increased availability of information and transparent, holistic analyses of high-impact opportunities attract increased investments in underinvested and new-opportunity market segments.

Market Intelligence Briefs – a new publication series to inform crop-breeding decisions

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in News.

The CGIAR Initiative on Market Intelligence represents a new effort to engage social scientists, crop breeding teams and others to work together toward the design and implementation of a demand-led breeding approach. (Photo: Susan Otieno/CIMMYT)

What is ‘Market Intelligence’?

Strategies for breeding and seed systems to deliver greater impact will benefit from reliable and comparable evidence on the needs and requirements of farmers, processors and consumers. This includes anticipating how farmers may respond to emerging threats and opportunities in light of seed-sector and product-market evolution and the changing environment. Experts generally agree that ‘demand-led breeding’ will be essential to achieve more impact from investments in crop breeding. But the continued interest in a demand-led approach to the design of varieties and the prioritization of breeding pipelines requires reliable, comparable and timely market intelligence. It also requires new mechanisms for how market intelligence is collected, shared and discussed with those engaged in the design and funding of breeding pipelines and seed systems.

Over the past 25 years, social science researchers from CGIAR, NARES and universities have generated important insights on the traits and varieties farmers prefer. These farmer preferences for traits and varieties have been explored through household surveys, participatory rural appraisals and participatory varietal selection. More recently, economists have employed tools such as choice experiments, experimental auctions and gamification of farmer priority traits. Overall, a large body of work has emerged, but variations in research questions, methodologies and interventions have contributed to disparate research findings and limited the opportunities for consolidation and comparative analyses.

Looking ahead, a strategic opportunity to guide more impactful investments in crop breeding and seed systems development lies in:

  • designing a consistent approach for generating and disseminating market intelligence
  • coordinating research across CGIAR and NARES to deliver timely market intelligence;
  • establishing processes for coordination across social science teams and among social science, crop modelers, CGIAR-NARES networks and the private sector.

The CGIAR Initiative on Market Intelligence (‘Market Intelligence’ for brevity) represents a new effort to engage social scientists, crop breeding teams and others to work together toward the design and implementation of a demand-led breeding approach.

Within this initiative, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) leads Work Package 1, ‘Market Intelligence’, which is responsible for the design of innovative methods and tools to collect market intelligence and the application of these tools across different regions and crops relevant for CGIAR breeding. The Work Package engages either other CGIAR centers and external partners, such as CIRAD and the World Vegetable Center. An early, but critical, challenge facing the Work Package team was how to disseminate in an accessible and timely manner market intelligence to breeding teams, funders, and the private sector.

Market Intelligence Briefs

Traditionally, researchers from CGIAR, NARES and universities who have sought to inform crop breeding and seed systems programming have done so by publishing their work in reputable international peer-reviewed journals. However, the process can be slow, potentially requiring multiple revisions over years. The practical nature of market intelligence research can limit its relevance for journal editors who are looking to push theoretical debates forward. Thus, for Market Intelligence to deliver on its promise, new ways of communicating will be essential. In looking to address these limitations, work package 1 has led the design and implementation of a new publication series called Market Intelligence Briefs (MIB). Each brief is reviewed by peers, is concise (less than 4000 words), avoids technical jargon, and attempts to present conclusions in a clear and decisive manner. In 2022 the first two editions of the MIB series were published, both led by CIMMYT researchers and available online.

MIB 1: a framework for informing crop breeding

This brief defines several important concepts that, when taken together, form the basic framework used by the Initiative to generate comparable and useful market intelligence. Some of the definitions are inspired by previous work on demand-led breeding, while others build on work by CGIAR’s Excellence in Breeding (EiB) platform. A confusing set of terms and definitions has emerged around market intelligence—a field rooted in commercial product innovation—with different terms and definitions for similar concepts. In the interest of clear communication and understanding among those engaged in crop breeding, seed systems and social science, this brief presents key concepts and definitions that have been discussed extensively during the initial months of implementation of Market Intelligence. We conclude the brief with reflections on the way forward for implementation.

MIB 2: future market segments for hybrid maize

The second brief zooms into the maize market segments in East Africa and proposes a new methodology for gathering insights from farmers about their varietal preferences to inform future market segmentation. This brief explains the conceptual and methodological underpinnings of Video-based Product Concept Testing (VPCT) and presents an application of the tool in hybrid maize. Seven new product concepts (representing potential future market segments) were identified based on discussions with breeders, seed companies and farmers, which we labelled: home use, intercropping, drought avoidance, nutritious, feed (yellow), green maize and food and fodder. These future concepts, together with the resilient benchmark product concept (the current breeding target), were evaluated through triadic comparisons with 2400 farmers in Kenya and Uganda. The results showed that concepts focused on agronomic performance were preferred over concepts focused on end use characteristics, but that diversity in farming practices can lead to different seed preferences.

Looking ahead

In 2023, several briefs will be published from scientists working in the market intelligence initiative and various partners of Market Intelligence from outside the CGIAR. An on-line repository for these briefs is being designed now. Future briefs will cover a variety of topics, from competition in maize seed markets in Kenya (based on a two year study that tracked seed sales at the retail level), methods for assessing the demand for future step-change innovations in genetic innovations, and preferences for future groundnut seed products in Tanzania, considering the needs of farmers and processors. We believe that these briefs will become a valuable communication tool to support informed decision making by crop breeders, seed system specialists, and donors on future priorities and investments by CGIAR, NARS, the private sector and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

This project received funding from the Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat project (AGG) [INV-003439], funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), the Foundation for Food & Agricultural Research (FFAR) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Read the original article: Market Intelligence Briefs – a new publication series to inform crop-breeding decisions

Mini-tillers bolster Nepal maize farmers’ food supplies and profits, new study shows

Written by Mike Listman on . Posted in Publications.

Use of lightweight, 5-9-horsepower mini-tillers by smallholder farmers in Nepal’s mid-hills cut tillage costs and boosted maize yields by facilitating timely maize cultivation, thus enhancing food self-sufficiency and farm profits and reducing rural poverty, a new study by an international team of scientists shows.

Published in the Journal of Economics and Development, the study reports findings of an on-farm survey involving more than 1,000 representative households from 6 districts of the mid-hills, a region of steep and broken terrain where rainfed maize is a staple crop, outmigration of working-age inhabitants makes farm labor scarce and costly, and farmers on small, fragmented landholdings typically till plots by hand or using ox-drawn plows.

“Conventional two- or four-wheel tractors are difficult to operate in the mid-hills’ rugged topography,” said Gokul P. Paudel, researcher working together with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and Leibniz University, Hannover, Germany, and lead author of the study. “Farms are small and the mini-tillers are a good fit. Very small farms — those comprising less than 0.4 hectares of land and normally not served by hired farm labor or larger machinery — benefited the most from mini-tiller adoption.”

The paper is the first to provide empirical linkages between small-scale farm mechanization and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly No Poverty (SDG-1) and Zero Hunger (SDG-2).

“Given its rural poverty and the resulting outmigration from farm areas to cities and to other countries, Nepal has increasingly become a labor-exporting country,” explained Paudel, who partnered in this study with researchers from the Asian Development Bank Institute and Cornell University. “Our research can help guide investments by Nepal and other developing countries in scale-appropriate farm mechanization, supporting those who wish to remain on rural homesteads and make a go of it.”

Machine operators starting the mini-tiller in the Kavrepalanchok district in the mid-hills of Nepal. (Photo: CIMMYT)

The science team found that farm size, labor shortages, draft animal scarcity, and market proximity were major factors that facilitate the adoption of appropriate mechanization in Nepal, according to Tim Krupnik, CIMMYT systems agronomist and study co-author.

“Smallholder farms dominate more than two-thirds of agricultural systems globally,” Krupnik said. “Interest in scale-appropriate farm mechanization is growing rapidly, particularly among donors and governments, and practical empirical measures of its impact are crucial.” The findings of the latest study fill this knowledge gap and provide sufficient evidence to prioritize the spread of appropriate technologies among smallholder farmers.

Krupnik noted that, through its office in Nepal and strong shared research and capacity-building activities, CIMMYT has worked for almost four decades with Nepali scientists and development partners, including the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD), to raise the productivity and sustainability of the country’s maize- and wheat-based farming systems.

In addition to strong government partnerships, CIMMYT works closely in Nepal with a range of non-government organizations, and importantly, hand-in-hand with private farm machinery manufacturers, retailers, and mechanics.

The study described was supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the Academy for International Agricultural Research (ACINAR) commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and carried out by ATSAF e.V. on behalf of the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, the One CGIAR Regional Integrated Initiative Transforming Agrifood Systems in South Asia (TAFSSA), and generous funders who contribute to the CGIAR Trust Fund.

Read the study: The contributions of scale-appropriate farm mechanization to hunger and poverty reduction: Evidence from smallholder systems in Nepal

Cover photo: In the Palpa district in the mid-hills of Nepal, a woman farmer tills the soil for maize seeding. (Photo: Gokul Paudel/CIMMYT)

Staple commodities: Country can save $1.3bn annually by developing efficient storage system

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in In the media.

Farmers in Pakistan could save up to $1.3 billion each year in post-harvest losses with the development of an efficient storage system.

Research shows that inefficient storage is the main cause of staple commodity losses in the country. Despite producing 27 million tons of wheat annually worth $7.4 billion, there is less than 6 million tons of storage capacity available; around 10% of the surplus wheat is lost at a value of $740 million due to the use of unregulated conditions.

With the ability to store their commodity for an extra two or three months, farmers can increase their income by between 20 to 40 percent. Preserving the crops that have already been produced will also pass on a saving of between 15 to 20 percent to end consumers.

Hermetic technology developed by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the University of Hohenheim offers a potential storage solution by protecting the commodity from the ambient environment.

Read the original article: Staple commodities: Country can save $1.3bn annually by developing efficient storage system

On Africa’s farms, the forecast calls for adaptation and innovation

Written by Sarah McLaughlin on . Posted in In the media.

On a visit to Kenya, Bill Gates had the opportunity to learn how smallholder farmers like Mary Mathuli are adapting their practices to account for the impacts of climate change.

Mathuli drew attention to the innovations that are making her life easier, such as drought-tolerant maize seed varieties developed by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO). She also cited her mobile phone as a vital tool, allowing her access essential information, such as weather forecasts, market prices, and technical farming support.

“In sub-Saharan Africa, more than half of the population works in agriculture,” explains Gates. “Together, they produce about 80 percent of the continent’s food supply. And most of the people doing the backbreaking farm work—like the chores I performed—are women.”

In addition to managing her farm, Mathuli is a model farmer and Village Based Advisor with the Cereal Growers Association, encouraging other farmers to adopt new practices that will improve their productivity. “She is clearly doing a good job in this role because more than 90 percent of farmers in her area have embraced one of the new adaptation practices,” said Gates.

Read the original article: On Africa’s farms, the forecast calls for adaptation and innovation

A reluctant farmer changes the fortune of his inherited land

Written by Nima Chodon on . Posted in Features.

In the sultry spring-summer heat of Bihar, India, the landscape is yellow with wheat grains ready for harvest. Here, in Nagma village farmer Ravi Ranjan attends to his fields — mostly wheat, with some pulses in the adjoining plots. The harvest this year will be a little less than anticipated, he explains, as receding monsoon rains left the soil too moist to begin sowing on time.

Ranjan’s grandfather and father were both farmers who owned sizable land. His father used to say that the land was productive but required a lot of hands, sweat, and time to sustain the yields. Agriculture was all that the family had known and depended on for decades before Ranjan’s father left the sector for the civil service. After the early demise of his grandfather in 2003, and with his father in a secure government job, it fell to Ranjan to shoulder the responsibility of managing the family farm.

As a young man, Ranjan had sometimes helped his grandfather in the fields, but now, as the owner of a hydraulic mechanical service firm working hundreds of kilometers away in Chhattisgarh, he had never imagined becoming a farmer himself. Though reluctant to begin with, Ranjan decided there was no alternative but to take on the challenge and do his best, and while initially he had little success with the new venture, slowly and steadily he began to change the fortune of his inherited land.

Today Ranjan is one of the local area’s success stories, as a progressive and influential farmer with ties to the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) project. Researchers on the CSISA team have been working with farmers like him in the region for over a decade and are proud of the ongoing collaboration. Ranjan’s fields are regularly used as CSISA trial plots to help demonstrate the success of new technologies and conservation agriculture practices that can enhance productivity and sustainability. For example, in the 2021-2022 winter cropping season — locally known as Rabi — he harvested 6.2 tons per hectare – while a separate acre plot as demonstration site was harvested publicly with officials from CSISA and the Krishi Vigyan Kendra Network (KVK), JEEViKA, and farmers from neighboring villages for improving yield sustainably.

As India celebrates Kisan Diwas (Farmer’s Day) on December 23, we speak to Ranjan about his hopes for the future and the continuity of farming in his family after he hangs his boots.

Farming has seen a sea of change since your grandfather’s time. What do you think has been the most transformative change in the years you have been involved in farming?

I think using mechanized tools and technology to ensure good cropping practices has tremendously reduced manual work. Furthermore, today with innovations and digitization in agriculture science, farming is not just recognized as a noble profession, but also an enterprising one. I am happy I came into it right when things were changing for good. I have no regrets.

Though not by choice that I came into it, I am now fully invested and devoted to farming. From being an entrepreneur to farming, it has been a transformational journey for me. I am unsure whether my daughters — I have three, the eldest turns 18 next year — will choose to be involved in agricultural farming. But I will encourage and fully support them if they choose to take it up. After all, they will inherit the land after me.

Extreme climate effects are challenging agricultural practices and output. How are you preparing to reduce the impact of these in your fields?

It is worrying to see how extreme climatic effects can be challenging for agriculture, particularly for smallholder farmers in the region. Erratic rains, drought at times, and increasing temperatures have all harmed our cereal and vegetable farms and affected yield in wheat crops significantly. The adoption of new technologies like direct seeded rice (DSR) to avoid puddled rice transplanting, early wheat sowing (EWS) to avoid terminal heat at maturity, zero tillage technology (ZTT), and better-quality seeds, are interventions introduced and supported by CSISA and other agricultural organizations from the state that has helped combat some of these climate-induced problems.

In my own fields, I have also introduced proper irrigation systems to reduce the impact of limited water availability. I hope to stay ahead of the curve and make sure I am aware of all that is possible to keep my farm productive and sustainable.

How did you begin your association with CSISA? What has been your experience of working with them to make your agriculture resilient and productive?

I was initially approached by one of their scientists working in the area. And because of my interest, they slowly began informing me of various technologies I could try. With these technologies implemented in my field, the yield and productivity improved.

Soon after expanding my agriculture output, I got 50 acres of land on lease in the village to grow more crops like pulses, along with rice and wheat. Today, CSISA has started using my fields as their demonstration plots for new technologies and best practices, and to spread awareness and bring in more farmers from neighboring villages to encourage adoption.

CSISA and others call me a progressive and innovative farmer. I am proud that many farmers and other agricultural agencies in the area have appreciated our efforts to continue making agriculture productive and sustainable.

About CSISA:

Established in 2009, the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) is a science-driven and impacts-oriented regional initiative for increasing the productivity of cereal-based cropping systems. CSISA works in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal. CSISA activities in India focus on the eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains, dominated by small farm sizes, low incomes, and comparatively low agricultural mechanization, irrigation, and productivity levels.

Cover photo: Ravi Ranjan takes the author on a tour of his fields where wheat grown with conservation agriculture practices like zero tillage technology is ready for harvest, Nagwa village, Bihar, India. (Photo: Nima Chodon/CIMMYT)

Shared priorities and plans for partnership

Written by Enawgaw Sisay on . Posted in News.

CIMMYT Director General Bram Govaerts with representatives from ATI and EIAR. (Photo: Enawgaw Shibeshi/CIMMYT)

In early September 2022, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) Director General Bram Govaerts made a brief visit to Ethiopia — his first since taking on the role in 2021. Over two days in Addis Ababa he met with a number of government representatives, donors and partners, including the Agricultural Transformation Institute (ATI), the Ethiopian Institute for Agricultural Research (EIAR), Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, and The Development Fund.

Discussions centered around South-South cooperation and how CIMMYT’s strategic priority to transform agrifood systems can support efforts to improve the livelihoods of resource poor farmers in Ethiopia and national food security. Through longstanding collaboration with local partners, CIMMYT has continued to support the country through maize and wheat germplasm supply, joint technology generation and demonstrations at scale, but the visit provided an opportunity to identify shared priorities and key areas for partnership.

Supporting a plan for self-sufficiency

In a meeting with representatives from the ATI and EIAR, the CIMMYT delegation were briefed on the elements of the Government of Ethiopia’s ten-year development plan and its targets to achieve food self-sufficiency by 2030, with commercialization, advocacy on land ownership, and financial sector reform emerging as key areas of focus.

In terms of policy change, explained ATI Director General Mandefro Nigussie, there are ten core agendas that the government has set and plans to implement in the coming years. These include land governance and advisory; public-private partnership; marketing and infrastructure; and digital agriculture. The continued need for capacity building emerged as a key concern, as high staff turnover has meant many of those trained by CIMMYT previously had now left their posts.

Govaerts thanked ATI and EIAR for their collaboration so far, noting that this would surely continue as CIMMYT planned to double engagement, collaboration, production and partnerships in the coming years. Addressing the concerns raised around capacity building, particularly the training of experts, he explained that training opportunities had been limited in the last two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic and budget constraints, but capacity building for research and extension was included in the list of future action points, including a ministerial visit to CIMMYT offices in either Mexico or India.

The discussions were productive, and participants reached agreement on several other points, including collaboration on the establishment of a One Stop Shop by ATI; supporting EIAR’s data warehouse development that will provide farmers with access to an agronomy advisory services hotline; and supporting the breading of wheat for heat tolerance and Ethiopia’s irrigated wheat initiative.

Representatives from The Development Fund, a non-government organization (NGO) from Norway, meet with Govaerts. (Photo: Enawgaw Shibeshi/CIMMYT)

Strengthening collaboration

Govaerts later met with several representatives from The Development Fund, including Country Director for Ethiopia Ulf Flink, to discuss opportunities for strengthening partnerships for greater impact. The Development Fund’s Ethiopian portfolio has evolved over four decades from supporting relief work by one Tigrayan organization to supporting multiple projects with several organizations in Tigray and Afar, with a focus on socio-economic development to alleviate poverty, and improve food security and natural resource management in dryland areas.

While the organization has recently encountered challenges in Tigray, with several programs disrupted by instability, Flink noted that the implementation of The Development Fund’s collaborative projects with CIMMYT are progressing well and pointed out opportunities to scale-up joint operations in the region, where more than 5,000 farmers have been supported so far.

Govaerts thanked The Development Fund for the strong collaboration so far and emphasized CIMMYT’s need for continued strategic partnership in South-South collaboration that can make a difference to smallholders in the country. He also pointed to CIMMYT’s aim of doubling impact and coverage, highlighting that changes in partners’ thinking and ways of intervening could be opportunities to strengthen collaboration with The Development Fund.

Cognizant of the limitations imposed by major challenges such as funding modalities — which are shifting towards humanitarian rather than development assistance — and the increasing price of mechanization, meeting participants were able to agree on a number of action points to support future collaborative work. These include continued support to project implementation in Tigray when the security situation allows; exploring opportunities to strengthen collaborations in other countries such as Malawi; and supporting research-based advocacy at both regional and zonal levels.

Additionally, CIMMYT will share its methodology for Integrated Development and research-based humanitarian development support, and work with The Development Fund to provide improved crop varieties and grain with smallholder famers in drought- and conflict-affected areas where projects are being implemented.

Two-wheel tractors transform smallholder farming communities in Masvingo

Written by Tawanda Hove on . Posted in News.

Women’s representative test drives a two-wheel tractor at a seed fair, Zimbabwe. (Photo: Tawanda Hove/CIMMYT)

The two-wheel tractor has been a life changer for Ranganai Muzorori.

At a recent seed and mechanization fair in Zimbabwe, the maize farmer, who purchased the tractor on a lease-to-own basis, said he now enjoys bigger earnings.

Not only has he realized a significant change in his income due to the tractor, he no longer has to struggle to shell maize because he now has access to a machine that strips the corn off the cob.

In a day I can shell about 10 tons, which is helpful for saving precious time, Muzorori said.

Land preparation is also less arduous. “We no longer rely on animal draft power or our own manual labor, but the tractor,” he added.

Due to the versatility of the tractor, which has multiple attachments depending on the task that needs to be done, he has also secured a formal annual contract with Great Zimbabwe Hotel in the southeastern city of Masvingo. He attaches a trailer to the tractor to collect garbage and transport it to the dump, diversifying his income beyond conventional on-farm earnings.

Before the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), in partnership with Zimbabwe’s government extension arm Agritex (Department of Agricultural, Technical and Extension Services), introduced low-cost tractors and small engine-operated farm machinery, such innovations were just a dream for many farmers in Zimbabwe who could not afford to pay $30,000 USD.

“We need to move with the times, the days of relying on either draft power or manual labor should be a thing of the past,” said Caleb Mnkandla, an Agritex supervisor. “With more exposure forums for farmers like this, we can accelerate the adoption of mechanized agriculture even at a smallholder farmer level.”

Improved mechanized tools are also now available to smallholder farmers.

Increased efficiency lightens load

A recent surge of January and tickborne diseases, which affect livestock, added to difficulties faced by many communal farmers due to draft-power shortages during land preparation and planting seasons.

This has translated to reduced yields for many farmers as the timing and efficiency of land preparation and planting has a direct impact on crop yields.

Other farmers in Masvingo are also seeing the transformative capabilities of such mechanization, as reflected in testimonials during the R4 Rural Resilience and ZAMBUKO seed and mechanization fair held in October.

The project – funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), and the World Food Programme (WFP) – is intended to reduce the arduous manual labor associated with the use of hand operated ploughs and tools.

“Smallholder production systems in Africa have been heavily comprised of intense drudgery which makes farming less attractive for youth and difficult for women,” said Abdul Matin, a lead scientist with CIMMYT.  “The new mechanization technologies we are bringing in are meant to reduce drudgery and cost, and add increased efficiencies to smallholder farmer operations.”

Private sector partners demonstrate the multi-functionality of two-wheel tractors. (Photo: Tawanda Hove/CIMMYT)

Greater accessibility through financing

In a joint collaboration, Agritex and CIMMYT provide an innovative financial scheme under which service providers pay a commitment fee of $500 USD to access the machinery. They then receive a grace period of four months and pay instalments of $100 USD a month for 20 months. The project covers half of the machinery cost as risk sharing.

So far, there are 34 service providers participating in Masvingo, offering mechanization services to smallholder farming communities for a fee. The project is a scalable pilot for the rest of the country.

The service provider model puts the focus on the asset owners, who not only enjoy the benefits of the mechanization, but also offer services to surrounding farming communities which causes exponential impact, Matin said.

The package of services farmers have been accessing include tillage, transportation, shelling and threshing services.

Tractors can be used for transportation year round, providing steady income for service providers.

The fair provides a platform to demonstrate and showcase the impact of the new technology to farmers, said Pamela Chirwa, project coordinator for CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program in the Southern Africa Regional Office located in Zimbabwe, who coordinated the event.

“We need to continuously expose farmers to other farmers who have moved on to mechanized production,” she said. “Such farmer-to-farmer extension makes it easier for others to adopt technology as they relate to each other better.”

“Adopting improved maize seed varieties alongside two-wheel tractors and other machinery will also improve capacity and potential earnings,” said Christian Thierfelder, a principal scientist with CIMMYT, addressing farmers in Masvingo, emphasizing that for conservation agriculture, mechanized equipment is a labor-saving technology.