The Sunday Mail
In labs and fields dotted across Zimbabwe, a team of scientists is working quietly but diligently to end food insecurity.
Few will have heard about the work the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre does, but just about everyone benefits from it.
CIMMYT is dedicated to reducing rural poverty, increasing food security, improving human health and nutrition, and ensuring sustainable management of natural resources by creating climate resilient crop varieties that can also withstand emerging diseases and pests.
Stemming from a pilot programme sponsored by the Mexican government and the Rockefeller Foundation aimed at promoting productivity, CIMMYT’s drought-tolerant maize seed varieties are popular with local farmers.
A CIMMYT study shows that drought tolerant (DT) maize varieties can provide families in Zimbabwe an extra nine months of food at no additional cost.
As climate change-related weather events such as variable rainfall and drought grow, it has been proven that the varieties provide a valuable safety net for farmers and consumers.
The study found that households that grew DT seed harvested 617kg more maize per hectare than others. This translates to $240 per hectare extra income for the households, which is equivalent to nine months additional food security.
Furthermore, the studies have shown that CIMMYT DT maize varieties can increase yields by 40 percent under severe drought conditions compared to other varieties.
As 93 percent of households surveyed grow improved maize varieties using seed purchased from local markets, this shows that by switching to DT varieties local farmers could greatly improve their livelihoods and food security at no additional cost.
Only 30 percent of households surveyed grew DT varieties.
Thousands of farmers benefited from the outputs of this partnership, which included support and training for African seed producers and the promotion of vibrant, competitive seed markets
Research was conducted under the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa Project (DTMA) and the Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa Project (STMA).
STMA is developing 70 additional improved stress-tolerant varieties using innovative modern breeding technologies.
CIMMYT works with organisations like the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the CGIAR Research Programme on Maize (MAIZE) and the Zambia Agricultural Research Institute (ZARI).
On-farm trials conducted by CIMMYT throughout Zimbabwe are popular with farmers, and the organisation is at the forefront of training local maize seed breeders, providing them with knowledge and skills.
Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement Minister Perrance Shiri acknowledges the important role CIMMYT plays.
“The relationship between my ministry and CIMMYT dates back to 1985 when we signed a memorandum of understanding followed by a Host Country Agreement, according CIMMYT Diplomatic Status in 2012.
“During the last 33 years with support from the Government of Zimbabwe and others, CIMMYT has developed a partnership model that has provided an environment for a strong and sustainable presence that has significantly enhanced agricultural research and development in general, and specifically on maize and wheat systems in Zimbabwe, the Sadc region and beyond over the past three decades.”
According to Dr Cosmos Magorokosho, the CIMMYT representative in Zimbabwe, private seed companies have also benefitted immensely.
“I can safely say that the majority of the young maize breeders passed through our hands. We have one or two maize breeders in private seed companies that passed through our hands. It is a fact that 70 percent of the country’s commercial maize seed varieties were produced here at CIMMYT,” Dr Magorokosho said.
At the recent Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa Project annual meeting, Seed-Co MD Mr Denias highlighted the important part CIMMYT played.
“The role played by CIMMYT can never be underestimated. This organisation is the unsung hero of our agriculture sector,” Mr Zaranyika said.
Mr Thomas Mutegude of Gatsi Village in Murehwa is a beneficiary of CIMMYT’s on-farm trials.
“I received pro-vitamin hybrid seeds as part of CIMMYT’s on-farm trials and I would want to say that this is the best gift I have had in recent years. The hybrids are not only nutritious but also drought and heat tolerant. They also mature early,” Mr Mutegude said.
CIMMYT’s agronomists teach farmers the crop management practices that are recommended to boost yields, productivity, and income.
The farmers are also taught to conserve natural resources.
Furthermore, the agronomists impart knowledge about land preparation equipment which is recommended for use with conservation agriculture. These include jab planters, dibble sticks, the planting hoe and animal traction rippers.
Local farmers are learning about recent developments in maize improvement such as the use in maize breeding of doubled haploids, molecular tools, transgenics, and precision phenotyping.
Demonstrations on the use of unmanned aerial vehicles for digital imaging and fast, cost-effective, and accurate phenotyping data collection have been made to mostly commercial farmers.
Research on crop diseases like maize lethal necrosis and fall army worm is advancing.
Courses on seed business management have been conducted with people learning how to scale up breeder seed to certified seed, and to maintain genetic purity and quality.
