CIMMYT Books and Book Chapters

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/130149

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Chapter Three. Conservation agriculture for regenerating soil health and climate change mitigation in smallholder systems of South Asia
(Book Chapter, 2023-07-29) Jat, Mangi L.; Gathala, Mahesh Kuma; Choudhary, Madhu; Sandeep Sharma; Jat, H.S.; Singh, Yadvinder P.
The increase in agriculture production to meet the food demand of growing human population from a limited availability of arable land with low environmental footprints and preserving natural resources (soil, water and air) simultaneously are major challenges in South Asia. The situation is further complicated by the climate change, which will further lower the food production, compounding the challenge of meeting food demand. Conservation Agriculture (CA) is solution to several challenges being faced in farming such as soil health, climate change, water scarcity, agricultural pollution, farm profitability, human health, etc. This exhaustive review examines the published literature from South Asia to assess the impact of CA on soil organic carbon (SOC) and the subsequent impacts on soil health (physical, chemical and biological properties), C sequestration and greenhouse gases emissions in major cropping systems. The results from several studies demonstrated that CA increased SOC and improved soil health parameters, mainly in the surface soil layer. The effects of CA on the changes in soil pH and electrical conductivity are small. The CA showed a remarkable positive impact on the nutrient availability in the soil. The CA system helped in both climate change mitigation and adaptation for sustainable crop production. The present gaps in our knowledge in soil health assessment and research agenda to fill the gaps are also included in this chapter. We hope this review of past accomplishments, current activities, and future opportunities will stimulate additional soil health research throughout the 21st century.
Chapter 2. Screening and use of nutritional and health-related benefits of the main crops
(Book Chapter, 2023) Ibba, Maria Itria; Palacios-Rojas, Natalia; Rosales-Nolasco, Aldo
Wheat, maize, rice, and barley play a critical role in the human diet, contributing to most of the calories and protein intake worldwide. This is mainly because of their higher productivity, storability, adaptability to different climate conditions, accessibility, and affordability, compared to other crops. However, even if food production has grown in the past years, nutrient deficiency is currently posing a serious threat, with millions of people suffering from malnutrition every year. Additionally, consumption of some cereals has been associated with adverse health reactions which affect 1%–10% of the world population. For these reasons, nutritional quality improvement of cereal grains has become a major target for all the stakeholders participating in cereal food production. Thus several breeding programs worldwide have been focusing on developing nutritionally enriched grains. This chapter will present the recent progress obtained in micronutrient biofortification (minerals, provitamin A, and anthocyanins), dietary fibers’ improvement, and modulation of protein content and quality in four major staple crops, wheat, maize, rice, and barley, using nontransgenic approaches. The feasibility of using natural variations, induced mutations, or other approaches involving genomic manipulation will also be discussed.
Is Scale-Appropriate Farm Mechanization Gendered? Learning from the Nepal Hills
(Book Chapter, 2023-06-12) Gartaula, Hom Nath; Singh, Madhulika; Paudel, Gokul Prasad
Scale-appropriate farm mechanization could be an important pathway to the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs) of attaining gender equality (SDG5) in agriculture. Gender and farm mechanization is getting attention in the academic and public policy domain as a solution to labor scarcity in the smallholder farming systems, which in recent years, is facing challenges of labor shortage due to male labor outmigration. Taking a case study from a maize-based farming system in Nepal hill, this paper illustrates how the promotion of scale-appropriate farm mechanization can be gendered. Using the household survey data collected from the mid-hills of Nepal from 179 mini-tiller adopter farmers, this paper reports that only 4% of the owners were women, and only 1% of women were involved in mini-tiller operations. We find that mini-tiller adopting male and female household head’s maize productivity, profitability, and production costs are similar. The paper concludes by identifying social perception against women, rugged topography, women’s low level of knowledge in operating machines, spare parts maintenance, and added responsibilities resulting in women’s lower participation in mini-tiller adoption decisions. This chapter suggests measures like awareness raising, increasing access, and training built around tailoring women’s needs to reduce the gender gap in farm mechanization.
Chapter 16. Increasing adaptation to climate stress by applying conservation agriculture in Southern Africa
(Book Chapter, 2022) Thierfelder, Christian L.; Steward, Peter R.
Climate change and soil fertility decline are threatening food security in southern Africa and efforts have been made to adapt current cropping systems to the needs of smallholder farmers. Conservation Agriculture (CA) based on minimum soil disturbance, crop residue retention and crop diversification has been proposed as a strategy to address the challenges smallholder farmers face. Here we analyse the potential contributions of CA towards adaptation to the effects of climate change by summarizing data on infiltration, soil moisture dynamics and crop productivity under heat and drought stress. The data were taken in the main from CIMMYT’s on-farm and on-station trial network. Data show that CA systems maintain 0.7-7.9 times higher water infiltration than the conventional tilled system depending on soil type, which increases soil moisture during the cropping season by 11%-31% between CA treatments and the conventional control treatment. This leads to greater adaptive capacity of CA systems during in-season dry spells and under heat stress. A supporting regional maize productivity assessment, analysing the results of numerous on-farm and on-station experiments, showed that CA systems will outperform conventional tillage practices (CP), especially on light-textured soils, under heat and drought stress. With higher rainfall and low heat stress, this relation was more positive towards CP and on clay soil there was no benefit of practising CA when rainfall was high. The long dry season and limited biomass production of CA systems in southern Africa require complementary good agricultural practices to increase other soil quality parameters (e.g. increased soil carbon) to maintain higher productivity and sustainability over time. This can be addressed by combinations of improved stress-tolerant seed, targeted fertilization, inclusion of tree-based components or green manure cover crops in the farming system, scale-appropriate mechanization and improved weed control strategies.
Chapter 8. Assessing the application and practice of conservation agriculture in Malawi
(Book Chapter, 2022) Bunderson, W. Trent; Thierfelder, Christian L.; Jere, Zwide D.; Museka, R.G.K.
The Conservation Agriculture (CA) system promoted by Total LandCare (TLC) and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is based on 14 years of experience grounded on the principles of minimum soil disturbance, good soil cover and crop associations. The platform to promote CA in Malawi was to build a strong base of knowledge about best practices through an innovative non-linear research–extension approach. Long-term on-farm trials were conducted in multiple sites across Malawi to compare yields and labour inputs of CA with conventional ridge tillage on the same footing. Results showed the superiority of CA in terms of maize and legume yields with significant savings in labour and resilience to climate change. The results provided the basis to upscale CA although adoption was lower than expected. Key challenges included: (i) lack of exposure and training; (ii) conflicting extension messages; (iii) misconceptions about inputs and tools for CA; (iv) resistance to change unless CA is clearly seen to be a better practice; (v) fears about controlling weeds, pests and diseases under CA; and (vi) perceptions that increased termites and earthworms are harmful to soils and crops.
Intensification of Crop–Livestock Farming Systems in East Africa: A Comparison of Selected Sites in the Highlands of Ethiopia and Kenya
(Book Chapter, 2014) Mekonnen, Kindu; Duncan, Alan J.; Valbuena, Diego; Gérard, Bruno; Dagnachew, L.; Mesfin, B.; Gedion, J.
The potential of valuation
(Book Chapter, 2022-10) Termansen, M.; Jacobs, S.; Dendoncker, N.; Ghazi, H.; Gundimeda, H.; Huambachano, N.; Lee, H.; Mukherjee, N.; Nemoga, G.R.; Ngouhouo-Poufoun, J.; Palomo, I.; Pandit, N.R.; Schaafsma, M.; Choi, A.; Filyushkina, A.; Hernandez-Blanco, M.; Contreras, V.; Gonzalez Jimenez, D.
The effects of adequate and excessive application of mineral fertilizers on the soil
(Book Chapter, 2023) Bijay-Singh; Sapkota, Tek Bahadur
Fertilizers increase availability of essential plant nutrients in the soil and alter many chemical, biological and physical soil properties. Fertilizers lead to the accumulation of soil organic matter (SOM), but the excessive application of nitrogen fertilizers is deleterious to SOM, may contribute to nitrate pollution of freshwaters and emission of nitrous oxide – a greenhouse gas. Nitrogen fertilizers can also cause soil acidification. Phosphatic fertilizers may contribute to eutrophication of surface waters, and heavy metal impurities in these may contaminate soils. Balanced fertilization positively affects soil organic matter and soil biota; and in general soil microbial life is positively influenced.
Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Security: Concept, Datasets and Opportunities for Computational Social Science Applications
(Book Chapter, 2023) Amjath-Babu, T.S.; López Ridaura, Santiago; Krupnik, Timothy J.
Ensuring food and nutritional security requires effective policy actions that consider the multitude of direct and indirect drivers. The limitations of data and tools to unravel complex impact pathways to nutritional outcomes have constrained efficient policy actions in both developed and developing countries. Novel digital data sources and innovations in computational social science have resulted in new opportunities for understanding complex challenges and deriving policy outcomes. The current chapter discusses the major issues in the agriculture and nutrition data interface and provides a conceptual overview of analytical possibilities for deriving policy insights. The chapter also discusses emerging digital data sources, modelling approaches, machine learning and deep learning techniques that can potentially revolutionize the analysis and interpretation of nutritional outcomes in relation to food production, supply chains, food environment, individual behaviour and external drivers. An integrated data platform for digital diet data and nutritional information is required for realizing the presented possibilities.
Working across Scales and Actors for Transforming Food Systems
(Book Chapter, 2023-01-31) Aggarwal, Pramod K.; Ambasta, Ashesh; Castellanos, Andrea; Gummadi, Sridhar; Højte, Simone; Martínez Barón, Deissy; Mwongera, Caroline; Ouédraogo, Mathieu; Radeny, Maren A.O.; Rusdall, Tone; Sander, Björn Ole; Sebastian, Leocadio; Wassmann, Reiner
The Climate-Security Nexus: Securing Resilient Livelihoods through Early Warning Systems and Adaptive Safety Nets
(Book Chapter, 2023-01-31) Läderach, Peter R.D.; Schapendonk, Frans; Shirsath, Paresh B.; Amarnath, Giriraj; Prager, Steven D.; Gummadi, Sridhar; Kramer, Berber; Govind, Ajit; Pacillo, Grazia
Insect Resistance
(Book Chapter) Tadesse, Wuletaw; Harris, Marion O.; Crespo-Herrera, Leonardo; A. Mori, Boyd; Kehel, Zakaria; El Bouhssini, Mustapha
Studies to-date have shown the availability of enough genetic diversity in the wheat genetic resources (land races, wild relatives, cultivars, etc.) for resistance to the most economically important insect pests such as Hessian fly, Russian wheat aphid, greenbug, and Sun pest. Many R genes – including 37 genes for Hessian fly, 11 genes for Russian wheat aphid and 15 genes for greenbug – have been identified from these genetic resources. Some of these genes have been deployed singly or in combination with other genes in the breeding programs to develop high yielding varieties with resistance to insects. Deployment of resistant varieties with other integrated management measures plays key role for the control of wheat insect pests.
Improving nitrogen use efficiency and reducing nitrogen surplus through best fertilizer nitrogen management in cereal production: the case of India and China
(Book Chapter, 2023) Sapkota, Tek Bahadur; Singh, Bijay; Takele, Robel
China and India are the two top consumers of fertilizer nitrogen (N) in the world not only to provide food security to 36% of the global population living in the two countries but also due to fertilizer-related government policies being followed during the last more than 50 years. Excessive fertilizer N use is now a cause of N-related environmental pollution as well as a concern for climate change. Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) at farmers' fields dictates both production of food crops as well as loss of N to the environment including efforts to curb climate change due to N2O emission. We used a gridded database on N input and N output for wheat, rice, and maize in China and India from 1961 to 2013 to synthesize the dynamics of NUE (percentage of applied N used by the crop) and surplus N (difference between total N input and N output) and in the light of relevant literature interpreted it in terms of past and future fertilizer N management scenarios and fertilizer related policies in the two countries. From 1961 to 2013, the percentage of fertilizer N in total N input in cereal crop production increased from 8–10% to 71–75% in India and from 30–37% to 80–84% in China. In both India and China, NUE has been continuously declining and in 2013 it was in the range of 20–24% (except 32% for wheat in India) due to several-fold increases in fertilizer N use and imbalanced use of fertilizer nutrients (particularly in India)—a consequence of huge subsidies provided by the governments on different fertilizer products. Estimates of maximum N output in the form of crop yield at saturating N input regimes determined from trajectories of N output as a function of total N input for 1961–2013 and 2001–13 revealed that crop and fertilizer N management for rice, wheat, and maize in India and China did not improve significantly since the Green Revolution era. As a large number of studies in India and China show that NUE can be increased by the advancement of technology front in terms of crop and fertilizer management and by reducing the fertilizer N rate without a significant reduction in the yield of crops, recommendations have been given for governments (to frame suitable policies), farmers, extension agencies, and fertilizer dealers.
Roadmap for strategic and tactical planning: implementation of an Integrated Agri-food System Initiative (IASI)
(Book, 2022) International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center; Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT
The complexity of agri-food systems demands increasing cross-institutional coordination and collaboration to strengthen science-based decision-making and agricultural planning. Reaching impact at scale requires not only scientific and technical innovations, but a better integration of political, social, economic, health, and environmental considerations through institutional innovations. The Integrated Agri-food System Initiative (IASI) is a multi-sector methodology that aims to (i) understand the challenges of a target agri-food system at a regional, national or local level, and (ii) identify a widely agreed solution set and realistic targets for a future improved agri-food system (Govaerts et al., 2021). Building on diverse existing knowledge resources, IASI facilitates a mindset shift towards sustainable and scalable innovations and stakeholder consensus on multi-partner and multi-scale integrated programs. The purpose of this roadmap is to guide development and implementation of the IASI methodology in any location by sharing best practices, enabling factors and useful tools, based on previous IASI cases. The IASI methodology has been developed to be an inclusive and participatory process that builds consensus through design thinking (i.e. understanding specific needs to define an innovative solution), informed by situation analysis, modeled predictions, and scenarios for a discontinuous future. This document’s primary intended users include stakeholders interested in large-scale planning to improve agri-food systems in distinct socioecological settings. Commonly, these stakeholders will be governments (Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Territorial Planning), CGIAR centers or National Agricultural Research and Extension Systems (NARES) that can serve as knowledge brokers. Application of the IASI methodology can generate strategies and quantitative SDG-aligned targets that have greater likelihood of supportive public and private investment. It emphasizes timely provision of information, options, and strategies to decision makers and multiple entry points for stakeholders with different interests (e.g. policymakers, rural communities, market players, banks, individuals). Moreover, the strategies and actions emerging from the IASI methodology reduce economic, reputational, operational and policy risks faced by governments, global donors, and agricultural sector financiers by offering a validated set of potential investments.
Management of wheat rust diseases, challenges and the way forward
(Book Chapter, 2022) Abeyo, Bekele G.; Badebo, Ayele
Wheat is the most important food security crop globally. Recent world wheat production stand at 766 million tons on 216 million hectares though wheat production is challenged by various biotic, abiotic, and other factors. As a global leader in wheat research, CIMMYT’s primary goal is to develop broadly adapted germplasm with high and stable yield, durable disease resistance, stress tolerance and acceptable end-use quality strategically addressing the different mega-environments such as irrigated regions, high-rainfall areas, acid soils, semiarid zones, tropical areas, and winter wheat zones. CIMMYT’s Global wheat program is one of the most important public sources of high yielding, nutritious, disease resistant and climate-resilient wheat varieties for Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The program works with the International Center for Agriculture Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat, and NARS. The CIMMYT wheat breeding program is supported by multidisciplinary team of experts with breeders strategically and internationally located at key regional offices to facilitate germplasm and information exchange as well as technically support NARS. The primary focus of the breeding program is on core (must have) traits with some emphasis on additional traits for specific environments. The center is crossing, selecting, developing, and distributing stable, and high yielding advanced lines which includes some Zn and Fe enriched germplasm, with durable pest resistance, stress tolerance and superior quality using the different strategies, and methods, highlighted. In addition, CIMMYT collaboration with Ethiopian NARS in some areas will also be briefed.
The CIMMYT wheat breeding strategies and its relevance to Ethiopia
(Book Chapter, 2022) Abeyo, Bekele G.; Badebo, Ayele
Wheat is the most important food security crop globally. Recent world wheat production stand at 766 million tons on 216 million hectares though wheat production is challenged by various biotic, abiotic, and other factors. As a global leader in wheat research, CIMMYT’s primary goal is to develop broadly adapted germplasm with high and stable yield, durable disease resistance, stress tolerance and acceptable end-use quality strategically addressing the different mega-environments such as irrigated regions, high-rainfall areas, acid soils, semiarid zones, tropical areas, and winter wheat zones. CIMMYT’s Global wheat program is one of the most important public sources of high yielding, nutritious, disease resistant and climate-resilient wheat varieties for Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The program works with the International Center for Agriculture Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat, and NARS. The CIMMYT wheat breeding program is supported by multidisciplinary team of experts with breeders strategically and internationally located at key regional offices to facilitate germplasm and information exchange as well as technically support NARS. The primary focus of the breeding program is on core (must have) traits with some emphasis on additional traits for specific environments. The center is crossing, selecting, developing, and distributing stable, and high yielding advanced lines which includes some Zn and Fe enriched germplasm, with durable pest resistance, stress tolerance and superior quality using the different strategies, and methods, highlighted. In addition, CIMMYT collaboration with Ethiopian NARS in some areas will also be briefed.
Sustainable intensification in eastern gangetic plains of South Asia via conservation agriculture for energy, water and food security under climate smart management system
(Book Chapter, 2022) Gathala, Mahesh Kumar; Mahdi, S. Sheraz; Jan, Rukhsana; Wani, Owais W.; Parthiban, M.
Rice cultivation in the South Asian region of Eastern Gangetic Plains (EGP) is running out of water, labour, low productivity and profitability. In addition, this system of crop production often ignores CO2-equivalent greenhouse-gas emissions, which are often rather significant. Although a dominant food-producing region in Asia is becoming poor in crop production, crop management approaches based on conservation agriculture-based sustainable intensification (CASI) increase the crop yields and improve profitability while lowering the water, energy and labour requirements, as well as greenhouse-gas emissions. The use of CASI approaches in EGP region villages and districts enhances crop diversification and intensifies their production. It also facilitates employment opportunities and micro entrepreneurship in rural areas. In on-farm experiments traditional and improved approaches in rice-based cropping systems were compared. We discovered that CASI management approaches increased the crop yields by 10%, reduced labour demand by 50% and increased water and energy productivity by 19% and 26% respectively. Overall, these findings showed that using CASI lowered crop production costs by up to 22% and raised gross margins by 12–32% compared with traditional methods. CASI management also resulted in CO2-equivalent emissions that were between 10% and 17% lower than those with traditional management. Initially, this principal research was collaborated on with farmer support groups for further extension. To encourage CASI adoption and out-scaling on a scale outside of research domains, an actively supporting policy environment was required.
GWAS case studies in wheat
(Book Chapter, 2022) Sehgal, Deepmala; Dreisigacker, Susanne
With the advancements in next-generation sequencing technologies, leading to millions of single nucleotide polymorphisms in all crop species including wheat, genome-wide association study (GWAS) has become a leading approach for trait dissection. In wheat, GWAS has been conducted for a plethora of traits and more and more studies are being conducted and reported in journals. While application of GWAS has become a routine in wheat using the standardized approaches, there has been a great leap forward using newer models and combination of GWAS with other sets of data. This chapter has reviewed all these latest advancements in GWAS in wheat by citing the most important studies and their outputs. Specially, we have focused on studies that conducted meta-GWAS, multilocus GWAS, haplotype-based GWAS, Environmental- and Eigen-GWAS, and/or GWAS combined with gene regulatory network and pathway analyses or epistatic interactions analyses; all these have taken the association mapping approach to new heights in wheat.
Taking technologies to a greater scale
(Book Chapter, 2022) Sseguya, H.; Chikowo, Regis; Chimonyo, Vimbayi Grace Petrova; Chipungu, Felistus P.; Groot, Jeroen C.J.; Muthoni, Francis K.; Ngulu, F.; Thierfelder, Christian L.
This chapter presents a definition of 'scaling' and outlines the key elements for success based on the experiences gained from Africa RISING research and dissemination in East and Southern Africa (ESA). Three examples are presented: (a) research and development partnerships; (b) community based scaling through seed systems; and (c) outdoor advertising for orange-fleshed sweet potato. It presents experiences and lessons learned from using these approaches to transfer and scale the technologies.
Taking technologies to a greater scale
(Book Chapter, 2022) Sseguya, Haroon; Chikowo, Regis; Chimonyo, Vimbayi Grace Petrova; Chipungu, Felistus P.; Groot, Jeroen C.J.; Muthoni, Francis K.; Ngulu, Festo; Thierfelder, Christian L.
This chapter presents a definition of 'scaling' and outlines the key elements for success based on the experiences gained from Africa RISING research and dissemination in East and Southern Africa (ESA). Three examples are presented: (a) research and development partnerships; (b) community based scaling through seed systems; and (c) outdoor advertising for orange-fleshed sweet potato. It presents experiences and lessons learned from using these approaches to transfer and scale the technologies.

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