CIMMYT's Blog

CIMMYT director general Thomas Lumpkin visited Nepal during 01-03 May 2012. One of the main objectives of his visit was to discuss the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) launched last year in India, and the potential for Nepal to follow a similar model, with Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) and CIMMYT scientists.

Lumpkin also had fruitful technical and administrative discussions with international and national CIMMYT staff based in Kathmandu. Together with several NARC directors—including Tek Bahadur Gurung (director of administration and interim executive director), B.N. Mahto (director of planning and coordination), and Neeranjan Adhikari (director of crops and horticulture)—he visited three potential sites at NARC’s Khumaltar research station, on the outskirts of Kathmandu, where the main Nepal BISA administrative building and research and training facilities could be located. From CIMMYT, the group also included Guillermo Ortiz Ferrara, country liaison officer (CLO) for Nepal, Nirmal Gadal and Dilli Bahadur K.C. of the Hill Maize Research Project (HMRP), and CIMMYT-Nepal office manager Surath Pradhan.

“CIMMYT is interested in expanding the crop improvement and crop management systems research and development activities being conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, NARC, and all the other partners who have been associated with CIMMYT in Nepal for more than 40 years,” said Lumpkin. “We look forward to a Nepal BISA that can enable CIMMYT and its partners to deliver greater impact toward the food security in the country.” On behalf of NARC, Tek Bahadur Gurung expressed NARC’s interest and unconditional support to make the Nepal BISA a reality. NARC management, the CIMMYT CLO, and other senior CIMMYT staff based in Nepal will soon meet to develop a strategy and start the process of designing and implementing BISA Nepal.

On the second day of his visit, Lumpkin was invited to deliver a lecture at the Nepal Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) on “Food security in South Asia: Opportunities and challenges for agro-eco-scientists”. More than 50 scientists from NARC and NARI attended the lecture, which generated a lot of interest and a lively discussion. Lumpkin was also asked to inaugurate a sports event at Khumaltar organized by NARC, making the first serve in a volleyball tournament. Colleagues observed: “Not a bad serve for a person who travels more than 200 days a year!”

Tags: BISA, Borlaug, CIMMYT, CIMMYT-Nepal, lumpkin, NARC, Nepal

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Food security is highlighted as one of the main priorities for Bangladesh in the country’s Investment Plan, and a sustainable seed supply constitutes a pivotal component of food security. With this in mind, a maize and wheat “seed summit” was jointly organized by the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and CIMMYT at the Hotel Lake Castle in Dhaka on 26 April 2012.

The event was chaired by Anwar Faruque, additional secretary for the MoA, and Shirazul Islam, research director of the Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI). There were about 30 participants representing the MoA, the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC), the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC), several seed companies, CIMMYT, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Aimed at developing a strategic roadmap for sustainable seed production, the meeting provided an opportunity for specialists from across the region to share their knowledge and experiences. Naseer Uddin Ahmed, chief seed technologist at MoA, and Md Nuruzzaman, director of seed and horticulture at BADC, talked about opportunities and challenges for sustainable seed production and dissemination in Bangladesh. CIMMYT consultant Stephen Waddington shared findings from the Seed Sector Scoping Study for South Asia.

Anwar Faruque stressed the need for the private sector and government to work jointly to ensure the availability of affordable, quality seed for resource-poor and marginal farmers. CIMMYT maize breeder Bindiganavile Vivek described that very approach being pursued under the International Maize Improvement Consortium (IMIC)-Asia, saying it was gaining popularity across Asia.

Participants expressed considerable interest, particularly at the possibility of accessing finished hybrids.

On behalf of the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee (BRAC), Sudhir Chandra Nath spoke alongside M.A. Razzaque, executive director of Lal Teer Seed Company, and B.I Siddidue of Siddiquis Seeds, on private seed production challenges and opportunities in Bangladesh and associated expectations from the public sector.

A “Roundtable Discussion for Roadmap Development” was led by CIMMYT agricultural economist Frederick Rossi, where many issues and follow-ups were identified, including ways to encourage private sector involvement. Much discussion was generated on how to increase the relevance of maize hybrids from BARI and therefore reduce dependency on importing hybrid seeds from elsewhere. Private company representatives expressed their interest in improving the diversity, efficiency, and sustainability of wheat and maize seed systems. The CIMMYT Bangladesh office will help to organize a series of follow-up meetings to reach a consensus on the fundamental features of a sustainable and functional seed system for Bangladesh.

Tags: Bangladesh, CIMMYT, food security, MoA, Seed Summit

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CIMMYT, with support from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), has been working on maize in Afghanistan for more than ten years, and has contributed to the release—led by the Agricultural Research Institute of Afghanistan (ARIA)—of four maize varieties. Historically, the national research and seed systems have not been as proactive for maize as they have for wheat. However, recognizing that maize can be an effective contributor to overall food production, the recent past has seen efforts to give maize its due importance as a food crop in Afghanistan. To this end, the first ARIA-CIMMYT maize workshop was held at the ARIA conference hall in Kabul on 30 April and 01 May 2012, with the aims of further systematizing maize research in the country and coordinating the efforts of stakeholders.

Maize is the fourth most important cereal crop in Afghanistan, accounting for about 6.8% of total cereal production. It has traditionally played a significant role in Afghan food, and during the pre-conflict period Afghanistan grew maize on about half a million hectares, with production reaching 0.7 million tons and productivity at 1.3–1.6 t/ha. During the last decade, productivity has ranged between 0.9 and 2.6 t/ha with signs of improvement, but the area planted to maize has fallen to about 180,000 hectares and total production has hovered around 0.3 million tones. The country has been importing maize to meet its needs, spending about four million USD during 2009.

The workshop was inaugurated by Sahib Dad Pakbin, senior advisor to ARIA. He welcomed the CIMMYT initiative and said he hoped the workshop would lead to increased coordination and more effective contributions by maize researchers in the country. Rajiv Sharma, CIMMYT’s country liaison officer for Afghanistan, highlighted the important supplementary role maize could play in enhancing wheat-based farm-level productivity. A total of 28 participants attended and gave presentations at the workshop, from ARIA, CIMMYT, the Afghan Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL), FAO, the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), and private sector seed companies. The themes covered included the importance of maize in Afghanistan, maize agronomy, maize breeding, seed production, and the maize research network in Afghanistan.

All the participants were excited by the opportunity to collaborate with fellow researchers, in particular the ARIA maize researchers by the chance to connect with colleagues from other research stations. They expressed immense satisfaction at being able to share and link their proposed research plans for the ensuing maize season. ARIA director Qasem Obaidi thanked CIMMYT for its contributions in providing this opportunity and expressed the wish that it would be repeated in years to come to facilitate meaningful coordination, not only among researchers but also other stakeholders such as seed producers.

Tags: Afghanistan, Agricultural Research Institute of Afghanistan, Australian Centre, food crop, Kabul, Maize

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During 27-28 April 2012, CIMMYT’s Socioeconomics Program organized a formulation meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for its Technology Adoption and Intensification Pathways project. More than 35 participants from five African countries attended the meeting. The group included economists, agronomists, and breeders, drawn from CIMMYT; the Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR); the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI); the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI); national agricultural research institutions; the University of Queensland, Australia; the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB); and universities from member countries of the Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Cropping Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) project. The objectives of the meeting were to discuss the project proposal with stakeholders, reflect on the in-house review comments by ACIAR, and develop the full proposal by developing a clear impact pathway. The four-year project is expected to develop actionable strategies and policy options for technology targeting and facilitating the adoption of integrated interventions.

The director of the Australian International Food Security Centre (AIFSC), Mellissa Wood, gave a keynote address on “New opportunities for enhancing food security in Africa”. She noted that food security remains an ongoing challenge in Africa, to which Australia is well placed to contribute thanks to its agricultural research expertise. The Australian Government has therefore renewed its focus on food security through rural development initiatives and the establishment of AIFSC. She pointed out that AIFSC’s mission is to accelerate demand-driven research, delivery and adoption of innovations to improve food security, by bridging the gap through agricultural research; understanding the requirements of smallholder production systems; understanding constraints to adoption of research outputs; and devising new modalities to overcome such constraints.

The meeting also benefited from key presentations by CIMMYT, partner institutions, and universities on key topics; break-out group discussions; and a brainstorming session. The new project has four main objectives: (1) panel data collection in sentinel villages and understanding of barriers to technology adoption; (2) risk analysis and adaptation options to manage climate risk and variability; (3) impact assessment and analysis of household intensification pathways; and (4) capacity building in gender-disaggregated agricultural policy analysis and communication of results.

Tags: ACIAR, Africa, AIFSC, IFPRI, ILRI, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Rural community development, SIMLESA, technology targeting, University of Queensland

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For the second year in a row, Afghanistan is aiming to produce enough certified seed to meet 10% of its annual wheat seed requirement. However, more than 80% of the total certified seed under production is susceptible to stem rust race Ug99. In response to the sudden emergence of new virulent races of stem and yellow rusts, chemical control of rust in wheat is increasing in several parts of the world. In Afghanistan, the situation is complicated by the fact that virulence to yellow rust race Yr27 has also been discovered and that Ug99 has been detected in neighboring Iran.

A training program on fungicide use to control wheat rusts was therefore jointly organized by CIMMYT-Afghanistan and the Plant Protection and Quarantine Department (PPQD) of Afghanistan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) under the USDA-sponsored project “Initiative for Food Security and Stability in Afghanistan.” The course took place during 22-23 April 2012 at MAIL’s Dr. Wakeel Hall and was conducted by plant pathology professor Ramesh Chand, of Banaras Hindu University, India.

The course was attended by 54 representatives of government agencies such as PPQD, ARIA (Agricultural Research Institute of Afghanistan), and ISE (Improved Seed Enterprise), plus participants from FAO, ANSOR (Afghanistan National Seed Organization, the umbrella organization of private seed enterprises operating in the country) and JDA (Joint Development Associates), an NGO operating in the northern part of the country.

Mir Aminuddin Haidari, general director of PPQD, inaugurated the course, stressing the need to enhance the capacity of government staff to support the production of wheat, an important food crop. Chand covered topics ranging from types of rusts, causal organisms, disease scoring, types of chemicals, and the concept of formulations in addition to the core subject, the use of fungicide to control rusts in wheat. The discussion also included procedural details, safety precautions, and disposal of leftover materials.

The second day of training included a practical demonstration in the fields of nearby ARIA research station at Darul Aman. A general lecture on Ug99 also given on that day attracted such a large audience from other departments that a repeat lecture was organized on 24 April at Kabul University’s School of Agriculture, which was attended by a large number of students and faculty members. Both trainees and ministry officials expressed their satisfaction with the course.

As a follow-up, the USDA-sponsored project is making available a total of 70 fungicide sprayers, plus the appropriate fungicide, to PPQD to manage any rust outbreak on wheat seed production plots in Nangarhar, Kabul, and Balkh provinces.

Tags: Afghanistan, Afghanistan National Seed Organization, chemical control, food security, MAIL, Ministry of Agriculture, Plant Protection, Stem rust, USDA

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For decades, rice and wheat have been the main crops grown in Haryana, India, but with increasing degradation of natural resources, the focus has turned to finding viable alternatives to ensure future food and livelihood security.

Over the last few years, high yielding maize hybrids have been tested during the short window following the potato harvest in Spring. The results are promising, showing that using a rice-potato-maize cropping system could produce more than 30 tons of food per hectare each year. This would increase not only productivity and profitability but would also address the emerging challenges of water scarcity and terminal heat effects, and offer solutions for different production environments.

To explore these findings in more detail, a multi-stakeholder consultation was organized by the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA)-Haryana (CIMMYT-IRRI) in partnership with the CCS Haryana Agricultural University (HAU), Haryana State Department of Agriculture, Haryana Farmers Commission, the Directorate of Maize Research (DMR) of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the Indian Maize Development Association (IMDA), and local maize farmers. The event, which took place on 19 April 2012 in Haryana, attracted around 350 farmers from five local districts, and 75 scientists and staff from public and private organizations.

The consultation included a farm visit, success stories, and presentations aiming to raise awareness about the potential of spring maize. Discussions explored domestic and international market potential; promotion of natural resource conservation methods; investments; technological advancements; new agricultural policy; and capacity building, not only for current farmers, but also for women and younger farmers.

Several speakers emphasized that joint effort would help to achieve more: CIMMYT cropping systems agronomist M.L. Jat suggested that building strong partnerships across the sector would be crucial for achieving sustainability, while R.S. Paroda of Haryana Kisan Ayog advised farmers to form self-help groups to share knowledge and experience.

Eminent scientist, former CIMMYT maize breeder, and World Food Prize laureate Surinder K. Vasal emphasized the need to strengthen research on maize hybrids in view of the changing climate. DMR director R. Sai Kumar explained how the available hybrids suited each different situation. Further support and advice was offered to farmers by J.S. Dhankar, director of extension education at CCS HAU and by IMDA president Sain Dass, who announced that he would ensure that the starch industry purchase all Haryana maize.

The government of Haryana’s additional director for agriculture, B.S. Duggal, also highlighted the incentive schemes available to promote agricultural diversification. Other participants included Indu Sharma, director of DWR, Karnal; Saroj Jaipal, head of RRS, HAU, Karnal; S.K. Gahlawat, deputy director of Agri, Karnal; Pradeep Meel deputy director of Agri, Yamunanagar; R.S. Sangwan, deputy director of Agri, Kurukshetra; S.P. Goyal, coordinator of Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVK), Kurukshetra; Dalip Gosain, KVK coordinator, NDRI, Karnal; S.K. Sharma, head of CSSRI Karnal; Virender Kumar, research platform coordinator, CSISA Karnal; and B.R. Kamboj, hub manager, CSISA Haryana.

Tags: Agricultural research, CSISA Haryana, Karnal

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QTL IciMapping is freely-available public software capable of building high-density genetic maps and mapping quantitative trait loci (QTLs). Compared with previous versions, the latest version has five new features: dominant/recessive markers are considered in recombination frequency estimation, map construction and QTL mapping; a new functionality called IMP can be used to build an integrated map from multiple genetic linkage maps sharing common markers; a new tool called 2pointREC can be used to estimate the pair-wise recombination frequency in biparental populations; many more markers can be handled by this software— for example, it can perform map construction and QTL mapping of more than 5000 markers; and linkage map figures are improved.

The software is project-based; kernel modules for building linkage maps were written using C#, those for QTL mapping were written using Fortran 90/95, and the interface was written using C#. QTL IciMapping runs on 32 and 64-bit computers with Windows XP/Vista/7 and .NET Framework 2.0(x86)/3.0/3.5. Research and development of the software was supported mainly by the CGIAR Generation Challenge Program, National 863 Program, 973 Program, and the Natural Science Foundation of China. The latest version is freely available (here). For more information, contact Dr. Jiankang Wang (jkwang@cgiar.org or wangjk@caas.net.cn).

Tags: Genetic linkage, genetics, Mapping of quantitative trait loci, Marker assisted selection

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During the week of 15-20 April 2012, 36 maize technicians participated in a training session in Lusaka, Zambia. The participants were selected from seven seed companies in Zambia, national agricultural research organizations, and NGOs involved in agricultural research and extension in the eastern province of Zambia. The objective of the course was to update maize technical staff on implementing on-station and on-farm trials, seed production, and the use of secondary traits in selecting superior genotypes under low nitrogen, heat and drought trials, and it combined both lectures and field work.

Well-managed experiments provide the foundation of all research towards germplasm improvement. Technicians are responsible for many day-today field activities and much agronomic management, making their training crucial in strengthening the capacity of national programs. The course was organized by three CIMMYT projects—Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA), Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Systems for the Eastern Province of Zambia (SIMLEZA) and Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS.—in collaboration with the Zambian Agricultural Research Institute (ZARI). It was designed to give technicians greater insight into key processes within germplasm development, variety testing and release, and seed production. Emphasis was given to the importance of trial uniformity, good agronomic management practices, and standardizing measurements.

Each project contributed specialized content to the course: under DTMA the focus was on how to select genotypes under managed drought and heat stress, develop a seed production strategy using seed road maps and maintain trial uniformity. The SIMLEZA project emphasized on-farm testing using the Mother-Baby Trial approach while under IMAS the emphasis was on developing low nitrogen sites and important traits to select for production under low nitrogen. CIMMYT thanks the course organizers and resource persons, Kambambe Mwansa and Franscico Miti of the Zambian Agricultural Research Institute, and CIMMYT’s Peter Setimela, Jill Cairns, Biswanath Das and Sebastian Mawere.

Tags: Africa, drought stress, DTMA, heat stress, IMAS, low nitrogen, on-farm trials, seed, seed production, SIMLEZA, Zambia, ZARI

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Ensuring a market for maize seed produced using community based seed production (CBSP) in the value chain system, and enhancing management and marketing competencies of local partners are among the strategic activities in Phase IV of the Hill Maize Research Project (HMRP), supported by SDC and USAID. The HMRP, in collaboration with the National Maize Research Program (NMRP), completed a 20-day training course on maize seed production technologies (15 days) and seed business plan development and marketing (5 days). The course took place at NMRPRampur, Chitwan, from 27 March to 16 April 2012. A total of 31 participants (11 women) attended the course; they were selected from CBSP groups collaborating with HMRP and are expected to work as community seed promoters in their respective groups afterwards.

The first course component on maize seed production technologies covered diverse topics, such as agronomic practices in maize seed production, farmers’ practices in maize varietal development, source seed production technologies, crop management technology (including insect pest management), improved seed production through CBSP, quality control, and truthful labelling. The second component covered HMRP seed marketing strategies, agricultural marketing, seed production costs, maize seed value-chain analysis, seed business plan development, bookkeeping at the CBSP group level, potential sourcing of local state funds by CBSP groups, the importance of gender equity and social inclusion in the CBSP approach, an introduction to cooperatives and private companies, and the basic legal requirements to establish them.

Each trainee developed a comprehensive action plan and presented it on the last day of the course. Participants were evaluated before and after each course component and the first-ranked candidate was recognized. Speaking at the closing session, Dr. K.B. Koirala, NMRP National Coordinator, expressed his appreciation to the HMRP and emphasized the importance of this type of training for empowering local communities. Dr. G. Ortiz-Ferrara, HMRP Team Leader, thanked the course participants, training coordinator, and resource persons for their help and cooperation in making the course a success. Finally, Dr. Koirala and Dr. Ortiz-Ferrara jointly distributed certificates and training kits to all participants.

Tags: Asia, CBSP, HMRP, Maize, Nepal, SDC, seed, seed production, South Asia, USAID

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A two-day workshop on potential technologies and policy environments for smallholder rainfed maize farming systems of Jharkhand state, India was organized jointly by Birsa Agriculture University (BAU), CIMMYT, and the International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI) during 16-17 April, 2012 at Ranchi, Jharkhand, India. The outcomes of the workshop will form part of CIMMYT’s IFAD-funded project on “Sustainable Intensification of Smallholder Maize-Livestock Farming Systems in Hill Areas of South Asia” and the MAIZE CGIAR Research Program (CRP).

There were 69 participants in total, including scientists, extension agents (KVKs), and students from BAU; key officials from the state department of agriculture National Food Security Mission (NFSM); and scientists from IPNI, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), and CIMMYT. The workshop was inaugurated by BAU vice chancellor M.P. Pandey, while sessions and break-out group discussions were facilitated by Kaushik Majumdar, director of IPNI’s South Asia Program; JS Choudhary, state NFSM director; AK Sarkar, dean of the College of Agriculture at BAU; ILRI scientist Nils Teufel; CIMMYT scientists M. L. Jat and Surabhi Mittal; and IPNI deputy director T. Satyanarayana.

The workshop was made up of presentations on key topics, break-out group discussions, and a brainstorming session. The overall key themes were: (1) current status, constraints, and opportunities in different regions of Jharkhand , (2) conservation agriculture in maize and wheat systems, (3) approaches for crop-livestock integration, (4) integrated farming systems for food and nutritional security, (5) optimizing nutrient management for improved yield and profitability, and (6) approaches for inclusive growth for Jharkhand.

The five break-out groups discussed conservation agriculture (CA); site-specific nutrient management (SSNM); integrated farming systems and crop livestock interactions; enabling policies; and knowledge gaps, partnerships, networks and scaling-out strategies. The discussion outcomes were particularly focused on technology targeting and enabling environments and policies.

Agriculture in Jharkhand is at very low cropping intensity (~114%), despite good rainfall in most districts. The most critical issues include: rolling topography with very small holdings, leading to severe erosion due to lack of appropriate rainwater harvesting; soil acidity; lack of high-yielding stress-tolerant cultivars; very limited mechanization; and poor farmer access to inputoutput markets, coupled with resource poverty.

Building on the experience of CIMMYT’s hill maize project in the state, the participants agreed that optimizing cropping systems deploying CA practices could alleviate many of these problems, and sustainably increase crop production and productivity. Integrating CA with SSNM has shown promising results in improving nutrient use efficiency, currently another bottleneck in productivity gains due to inappropriate nutrient use. Crop-livestock integration is also key, as animals dominate farming in Jharkhand.

To implement these technologies and practices on a large scale, policy support is crucial. The outcomes of the workshop are being documented to serve as a policy paper for prioritization and implementation of technologies by the state, with the goal of arresting land degradation, improving crop productivity, and improving resource use efficiency and farm profitability.

Tags: Asia, IFAD, ILRI, India, IPNI, livestock, South Asia, SSNM

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