| Abstract |
The occasion of an external review of CIMMYT’s work on maize and maize systems in Africa serves as an excellent opportunity for our scientists and administrators to take stock and synthesize the fruits of our efforts over the past five to ten years. For the most part, we have many positive accomplishments to report, but given the continuing and growing gap between food production and food requirements in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), we can hardly claim that the challenge of providing food security and improving livelihoods has been met and overcome. Our work and relative research priorities, as this briefing booklet will show, have evolved together with changing research and socioeconomic environments, and with our increased understanding of what farmers and national agricultural research systems need and how we can help provide it. The first two chapters explain some of the changes that have occurred at CIMMYT as well as in the maize research environment in SSA. CIMMYT is now implementing the results of a comprehensive yearlong strategic planning process to position the Center and orient its mission for the next 10-15 years. The new strategy builds on CIMMYT’s core strengths in maize and wheat improvement, and maize and wheat systems, while placing an increased emphasis on improving people’s livelihoods and effective partnerships. Key to this philosophical reorientation is a physical reorientation that, under CIMMYT’s new structure, will headquarter the new African Livelihoods program and its maize and wheat activities in Nairobi, and bolster other SSA offices, thereby strengthening our presence and effectiveness in the continent. This reorientation is timely, as Chapter 2 pointedly notes the difficult policy and donor milieu in which we now operate. Chapter 3 provides an overview of the structure and staffing for the Center’s work over the past five years, based on the “Food and Sustainable Livelihoods for Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Project,” outlined in CIMMYT’s 1998-2003 mid-term plan. It lays out the themes and goals of six sub-projects, which are reported on later in this briefing booklet. Also recounted is our history in working with a variety of regional organizations. Chapters 4 and 5 review the most prominent abiotic and biotic stresses facing maize farmers in SSA, and CIMMYT project activities and products geared to help overcome these constraints. High on the list of abiotic constraints are drought and poor soil fertility, which CIMMYT tackles from several angles including development of stress tolerant germplasm and related breeding methodologies, research to understand plant drought-response mechanisms, and farmer participatory research on crop, soil, and water management strategies, including risk management. This work is further leveraged through the use of networks and capacity building activities. Exciting drought tolerant varieties have been developed through the application of a wide range of tools ranging from innovative mother-baby trials to marker-assisted selection at the molecular level. The potential impact is further heightened when such germplasm is integrated with the “Best Bets” technology options generated by our soil fertility management research. Significant biotic stresses include northern leaf blight, maize streak virus, and gray leaf spot. Key among insect pests are stem borers and postharvest pests (weevils and the larger grain borer). Finally, the parasitic weed Striga exacts heavy yield losses, often from resource poor farmers who cannot afford to apply adequate amounts of fertilizer. CIMMYT’s germplasm improvement efforts on this front have produced noteworthy results, especially for disease tolerance and a revolutionary technology (seed coating for adapted herbicide resistant maize varieties) to control Striga in farmers’ fields. Work on insect pests has introduced a new technology, genetically modified Bt maize, to CIMMYT and Africa (the IRMA project), along with the complex technical and societal issues that accompany it. Considerable progress has been made on these fronts while the end-products are making their way through the development pipeline. Chapter 6 addresses CIMMYT’s work on highland maize, which has taken on added significance with the Center’s new mission. Highland maize growing areas are typically densely populated and disproportionately poor. The biggest constraint to increased production is predominance of unimproved maize varieties. Extensive screening and characterization efforts have been undertaken to identify exceptional local materials. These can also contribute to efforts aimed at breeding improved hybrids and open-pollinated varieties (OPVs) that meet the unique requirements of these regions and their farmers. Chapter 7 goes right to the heart of the “better livelihoods” mandate as it reviews work to improve the nutritional characteristics of maize for SSA. Quality Protein Maize (QPM) heads the list of accomplishments in this area, as it is bred into stress resistant varieties that meet the needs of local farmers. Work has recently been initiated in conjunction with the World Bank’s Harvest Plus Challenge Program to boost micronutrient levels in maize, specifically iron, zinc, and beta-carotene. The gap between research and impact is a critical one. Chapters 8 and 9 review our efforts to bridge this gap by stimulating, and even building, seed markets and avenues for distribution, and by helping NARS in SSA strengthen their human and institutional capacities. Access to improved seed is essential for improving the lives of maize farmers in SSA. CIMMYT is moving on many fronts to address this issue, including grass roots approaches such as mother-baby trials to stir interest and involvement in improved varieties, to community-based seed production, which increases access to seed while improving farmers’ incomes. Work at the policy and business levels is breaking down constraints to a more vital and competitive seed market. By improving the flow of information about new varieties, CIMMYT hopes to stimulate interest, experimentation, and adoption of improved maize by clients ranging from NARS scientists to farmers. For long-term sustainable progress, capacity building is a must, and the final chapter looks at the severe constraints and the positive actions CIMMYT is taking on this issue. Indeed CIMMYT spends 33% of its budget on training and networking activities. It is hoped this briefing booklet will provide a succinct overview of CIMMYT’s work in SSA, and the challenges we face daily in trying to improve the livelihoods of our brothers and sisters in the region. By virtue of the booklets brevity, not every issue and activity can be presented completely and with the attention they deserve. We therefore invite the review team, during our interactions to seek out those details and less obvious linkages and we look forward to assisting with that task. We also eagerly anticipate the review team’s report and its findings on what we are doing right and suggestions on how we can do things better. |
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