CIMMYT's Blog

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is one of CIMMYT’s biggest supporters. Here we repost their blog about Bill’s annual letter, which highlights the issue of food security, and how we need innovation and investment in agriculture if we are to address these problems

My job is to learn about global health and development—and to travel to poor countries to meet farmers who can’t grow enough food, mothers who can’t keep children healthy, and heroes in the field who are doing something about those emergencies. Very few people can devote the time to really understand these complex problems. Even fewer can actually meet the people who are struggling to overcome them. That is why I write an annual letter every year.

I want people to know about the amazing progress we’ve made. I also want them to see how much more progress it will take before we live in a truly equitable world.

In this year’s letter, I focus on food and agriculture (though I also provide updates about all the global health and U.S. education work we do). When I was in high school, a popular book called The Population Bomb painted a nightmarish vision of mass starvation on a planet that has outgrown its carrying capacity. That prediction was wrong, in large part because researchers developed much more productive seeds and other tools that helped poor farmers in many parts of the world multiply their yields. As a result, the percentage of people in extreme poverty has been cut in half in my lifetime. That’s the amazing progress part of the story, and not enough people know it.

But there’s the progress-yet-to-come part, and people need to know that, too. There are still more than 1 billion people who live in extreme poverty. They are located primarily in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, and they live on the edge of starvation. There is an irony in this, because most of them are farmers. We can help these 1 billion achieve self-sufficiency, just like we helped billions before them, but we stopped trying. At a certain point, the sense of crisis around food dissipated, and the proportion of foreign aid dedicated to agriculture dropped from one-fifth to less than one-twentieth.

My hope for my annual letter is that it helps people connect to the choice we all have to make. Relatively small investments changed the future for hundreds of millions of small farm families. The choice now is this: Do we continue those investments so that the 1 billion people who remain poor benefit? Or do we tolerate a world in which one in seven people is undernourished, stunted, and in danger of starving to death?

In times of tight budgets, we have to pick our priorities. It’s clear that in this particular time, we’re in danger of deciding that aid to the poorest is not one of them. I am confident, however, that if people understand what their aid has already accomplished—and its potential to accomplish so much more—they’ll insist on doing more, not less. That is why I wrote my letter. I hope you’ll take the time to read it and share it with your friends and family.

I’ve invited students from around the world to write their own annual letters too. You can send your letter, or any questions you have for me, to annualletter@gatesfoundation.org. I’ll be answering and talking about the ideas in your letters in a live webcast on February 2 on my Facebook page.

Originally published on Impatient Optimists, blog of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Tags: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

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The 20 January 2012 issue of Science features an article by leading international agricultural experts, including Molly Jahn, who delivered a keynote speech with CIMMYT’s Director General Thomas Lumpkin at the opening of the MAIZE and WHEAT meetings in Mexico City last week. Despite the progress made at December’s climate change negotiations in Durban, the authors urge scientists to lay the groundwork for more decisive action on global food security in 2012.

You can find more information on the CCAFS news site, or read the full Science article here.

Tags: CCAFS, climate change, Science

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Open access (OA) publishing (providing access to full text free of charge) was recently presented in one of the kiosks during Science Week. The topic raised a number of questions and discussions mainly related to the availability of OA journals and the institutional support required. However publishing Open Access articles is not limited to scientific journals and is utilized by a number of CIMMYT colleagues. The library has just received an example of a book published in OA. Jiankang Wang from the CIMMYT Beijing office contributed a chapter on ‘Modelling and Simulation of Plant Breeding Strategies’ to the book PLANT BREEDING edited by Ibrokhim Y. Abdurakhmonov. The entire book can be downloaded from INTECH. Thank you Jiankang for championing Open Access. We strongly encourage more colleagues to use the same approach!

Tags: Open Access

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On 11 January 2011, CIMMYT welcomed a delegation of representatives from the Chinese embassy to Mexico. The Ambassador’s wife, Linge Liu, was accompanied by Wenling Ding, First Secretary of Education, and Yue Lan, Third Secretary of Science and Technology.

The delegation toured CIMMYT’s facilities including the Wheat Quality Laboratory, Applied Biotechnology Center, and the Wellhausen- Anderson Plant Genetic Resources Center. They met with Director General Thomas Lumpkin, who stressed CIMMYT’s vision and objective to develop stronger relations and promote South- South cooperation between India, China, and Mexico. “China and CIMMYT have a long history of bilateral relations. Today, China is becoming the strongest country in the world. China and CIMMYT must work very closely together as the future develops,” stated Lumpkin.

CIMMYT currently has five senior scientists based in China: Zhonghu He, Jiankang Wang, and Yunbi Xu are posted at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) in Beijing, Daniel Jeffers is based at the Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Science, and Garry Rosewarne at the Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Science.

For the first time this year, China became a net importer of maize, and it recently overtook rice as the country’s primary crop. Maize is currently produced on 30.2 million hectares in China compared to 29.5 for rice and 23.9 for wheat, and Lumpkin expressed concern over the current maize market and importexport trends. By 2015, China is expected to import 15 million metric tons of maize from the US alone. Both Mexico and China are current importers of maize, and may compete for maize in the future.

Zhonghu He, Country Liaison officer for China, also joined the meetings and highlighted CIMMYT’s strong training component to develop the next generation of Chinese agricultural science researchers. CIMMYT currently has a total of 16 Chinese Postdoc students pursuing specialized research in maize and wheat genetics, diseases, and breeding, and in addition to recruiting these specialized scientists, over half of China’s maize seed bank genetic resources are sourced from CIMMYT.

Tags: China

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Since 2010, CIMMYT has been orchestrating the project “Strengthening the Plant Biotechnology Capacity for Sustainable Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture in Kazakhstan”, in conjunction with the National Center for Biotechnology of the Republic of Kazakhstan, JSC “KazAgroInnovation” of the Ministry of Agriculture, and FAO. This initiative aims to improve breeding methods for the most important crops through the application of biotechnology and effective use of plant genetic resources, as well as identifying priorities and measures to develop these areas within Kazakhstani research institutions.

As part of the project, CIMMYT organized a training workshop on biosafety, regulations, biotechnology policy issues, plant genetic resources, and breeding, during 05-09 December 2011, in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The event was attended by scientists and experts from breeding organizations affiliated with JSC “KazAgroInnovation” and academic institutions of the Ministry of Education and Science of Kazakhstan. Welcoming the participants, Muratbek Karabayev, CIMMYT-Kazakhstan, spoke of Kazakhstan’s potential to become a world-leading exporter of high-quality grain and crops, given its huge land resources, well-developed agricultural infrastructure, and scientific capacity. Izbassar Rahimbayev, Institute of Plant Biology and Biotechnology and Guy Riba, National Institute for Agricultural Research, France, then both highlighted the importance of biosafety and bioethics in the experiments and applications of genetic engineering. Riba informed participants about the large contribution of biotechnology to food security, and emphasized the role of well-established international collaborations in the development of agriculture. The legal aspects of labeling genetically modified products were elaborated on by Evgeniy Klimov, President of the Kazakhstan Foundation for Integration of Ecological Culture.

Edgar Klose, Maerkish Institute for Promotion of Technology and Innovation, Germany, lectured on the concept of sustainable development, with particular reference to reasonable economies, the environment, and social justice. He also briefed participants on the latest devices and technologies being used in Europe for plant breeding, crop production, and ecology. Representing the Quarantine Nursery of Cereal Crops, Kazakhstan Ministry of Agriculture, Amangeldy Sarbaev, reported on issues related to testing imported seed material, as well as the ongoing collaborations between CIMMYT and the Kazakh Research Institute of Farming and Crop Production. Shymbolat Rsaliev, Institute for Biological Safety Problems, Kazakhstan, also spoke of the necessary international approach, especially when considering plant pathogens such as the potential threat of the stem rust Ug99.

Nazira Bishimbaeva, Institute of Plant Biology and Technology, Kazakhstan, spoke of the possibilities of expanding the genetic basis of selection through biotechnological techniques, particularly stem cell engineering and somaclonal variation. She described the genotype-independent plant regeneration technology for wheat lines with valuable traits, which was developed at the Institute. Biotechnology methods are already being used at the International Potato Center (IPC), and were explained at the workshop by Carlos Carli, IPC Central Asian Liaison Officer. The participants were unanimous in concluding that the national agricultural and biological research systems in Kazakhstan should utilize plant genetic resources for the benefit of food production, as well as ensuring that research and commercial production integrates advanced approaches and technologies. This will increase the efficiency of the agricultural sector in maintaining improved national food security and agricultural export capacities.

Tags: FAO, JSC

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In 2011, the level of wheat production in Afghanistan fell by approximately 1.8 million tons, from the record levels harvested in 2009. This decrease was largely due to a lack of rainfall and irrigation, primarily in North and Northwestern provinces, and such future losses could therefore be reduced through improved irrigation scheduling, sowing time, seed, and alternative crops. To discuss these issues, CIMMYT-Afghanistan organized a two-day round table on “Rainfed wheat: Status and R & D Imperatives” during 18-19 December 2011, in conjunction with the Department of Extension and Agricultural Development, Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation & Livestock (MAIL), Agricultural Research Institute of Afghanistan (ARIA) and ICARDA-Afghanistan.

The meeting was attended by 45 participants from the Department of Extension and Agricultural Development, ARIA, CIMMYT, ICARDA, FAO, USDA, USAID, AusAID, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and NGOs such as HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation, and Joint Development Associates (JDA). Hukum Khan Habibi, MAIL Director General (Extension and Agricultural Development), inaugurated the meeting and welcomed this timely initiative aimed at capitalizing on available resources and providing guidelines for tackling such problems in the future.

Participants were welcomed by Javed Rizvi, Country Manager, ICARDA-Afghanistan, who emphasized the importance of rainfed wheat research. The comparative differences between the harvests of 2009 and 2011 were presented by Rajiv Sharma, Country Liaison Officer, CIMMYT-Afghanistan, to highlight the constraints encountered in 2011. Four technical brainstorming sessions were then chaired by T.S. Pakbin, Senior Technical Advisor, ARIA, Hukum Khan Habibi, Qasem Obaidi, Director of Research, ARIA, A.R. Manan, Advisor, ICARDA-Afghanistan, and Jalal Kamali, Senior Wheat Breeder, CIMMYT-Iran, who was specially invited to share the success of Iran’s rainfed wheat programme with the participants.

Concluding the meeting, participants stressed that emphasis should be given to developmental issues such as water harvesting provisions, irrigation facilities, timely availability of quality agri-inputs and machinery, trained manpower, credit and marketing infrastructure, alternative cropping sequences, and dedicated research facilities for rainfed wheat. Participants expressed their satisfaction that, for the first time, researchers and extension workers had met to evaluate the current issues and work together for the improvement of rainfed wheat in Afghanistan.

Tags: Afghanistan, ARIA, ICARDA, MAIL

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In December 2011, Nigerian’s Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Bukar Tijani, pledged the support of the federal government for CIMMYT and the Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in producing and distributing drought resistance maize seeds in West African countries. The pledge was made at a workshop organized by the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project. Read the full story here.

Tags: DTMA, IITA, Nigeria

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Fieldroid is an application for collecting data on a Android device. Examples related to CIMMYT are: A field trial with plots, an experiment in a laboratory, or bags of seeds. You can either work with an ordered list such as the sequence of plots in the field or use barcodes to identify the item to be scored, the latter is e.g. relevant for bags of seed.

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During 01-02 November 2011, agricultural science, extension, and development leaders, key researchers of South Asian national agricultural research and extension systems, and representatives from regional CGIAR centers, FAO, USAID, NGOs, and farmer associations, met in New Delhi, India, for a dialogue on conservation agriculture (CA) in South Asia. The meeting focused on conservation agricultural research for development (CAR4D) and greater impacts on small-holder farmers, and was organized jointly by the Asia Pacific Association of Agricultural research Institutions (APAARI), CIMMYT, and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

Raj Paroda, Executive Secretary, APAARI, emphasized the dual challenges currently facing food security in South Asia, namely resource fatigue and decelerating productivity growth. These factors are being further exacerbated by rises in the costs of food and energy, depleting water resources, vulnerability of soil to degradation, and climate change. Producers’ profits are decreasing, making farming unattractive and unsustainable in the region. CA is seen as a key driver in the Millennium Development Goals to improve efficiency and sustainability through systembased management, optimization of crop yields, economic benefits, and environmental impacts. Whilst the pace of adoption of CA in the region has slowed in the past few years, it is hoped that meetings such as this can provide a common regional platform for stakeholders to share information and define priorities for the deployment of CA, develop common strategies for local problem resolution, facilitate the exchange of knowledge, products, and experiences, and map the future of CA in South Asia.

Other speakers at the event included AK Singh, Deputy Director General (Natural Resource Management), ICAR, Peter Kenmore, IPM Expert, FAO, Thomas Lumpkin, Director General, CIMMYT, and S. Ayyappan, Director General, ICAR. Ayyappan spoke of the successes achieved by the Rice-Wheat Consortium for the Indo-Gangetic Plains (RWC), including increasing the use of CA technologies in the region. He also highlighted the current importance being given to CA, through the National Initiative on Conservation Agriculture that will be launched by the Indian Government as part of its 12th five-year plan for special programs. Lumpkin reiterated these points, mentioning that CA will play an important role in most of the CRP’s (the CGIAR mega-programs for rice, maize, wheat, climate change, etc.).

CIMMYT’s Senior Cropping Systems Agronomist, ML Jat, presented the global overview of CA with several key recommendations, including the need to establish long-term basic and strategic research in different production systems, define appropriate CA technologies for different systems with improved access for farmers, and develop communication tools to better enable sharing of knowledge, experiences, and farmer innovations between all stakeholders.

Tags: APAARI, ICAR, India, RWC

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Launched in 2010 by the National Center for Biotechnology of the Republic of Kazakhstan, JSC “KazAgroInnovation”, FAO, and CIMMYT, the “Strengthening the Plant Biotechnology Capacity for Sustainable Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture in Kazakhstan” initiative gained further momentum when CIMMYT organized a training seminar on “Modern Plant Genetic Resources: Conservation, Characterization, and Use Methods” during 24-28 October 2011 in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

In his welcome address, Muratbek Karabayev (CIMMYT-Kazakhstan) focused on the mobilization of genetic plant resources, and the role of biotechnology and breeding in the preservation and management of genetic resources, agriculture, and food production. Karabayev stressed that success can only be achieved through mutually beneficial cooperation between plant breeders and biotechnologists, and that partnerships should have a common purpose and trust between collaborators, with proper funding to assist research at the highest international standards.

Olga Mitrofanova, Head of the Wheat Genetic Resources Department, N.I. Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry (VIR), presented on the role of plant genetic resources in crop breeding, and the contribution of VIR to this science, such as the agroecological classification of cereals by sub- regions according to climatic conditions and varieties. This is particularly important in countries as large as Kazakhstan as regional factors need to be considered when drafting and implementing development strategies for biotechnology, plant genetic resources, and breeding.
Other speakers included Sergej Martynov, Key Researcher, VIR, and Elena Salina, Cytology and Genetics Institute, who delivered lectures on the genetic diversity and evolution of domestic and wild wheat species, and the various approaches of analyzing plant genetic resources.

Seminar participants agreed that the use of biotechnology in crop production should be assessed based on the breeding efficiency of new varieties. At the national level, activities should involve a wide range of stakeholders to efficiently preserve and use plant genetic resources in the long-term. The key priorities are that disease-free seeds should be preserved in-situ and ex-situ, with duplication in other seed banks, as well as appropriate regeneration and replenishment of collections. The contents of collections should be properly characterized and documented by well-qualified staff. Communication with other collections is also vital for identifying and obtaining new seed sources, and for subsequent distribution and utilization of germplasm.

As mentioned in the Informa issue 1767, many Kazakhstani scientists also feel it is necessary to establish a National Bank of Genetics Resources in Kazakhstan, and to develop a National Strategy on the conservation of plant genetic resources and their use in food and agriculture.

Tags: Kazakhstan, VIR

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