Mexico
June 29, 2007
 What
started with better crop varieties from CIMMYT and other CGIAR centers
has resulted in development that is helping resource-poor, Andean
farmers climb the steep slope out of poverty.
“Perhaps the best indicator is this: you never
used to see trucks regularly driving out of the valley loaded with
produce for the market; now you do.” Luís Eduardo Minchala
Guaman, legume breeder for Ecuador’s National Institute of
Agricultural and Livestock Research (INIAP), looks out over rolling
Andean mountainsides in the cold air and blistering equatorial sunlight
at some 2,600 meters above sea level. This is the Saraguro region—a
tough, two-day drive south from Ecuador’s capital, Quito.
Minchala is discussing the achievements of a development project
begun in 1995 with farmers in 21 local communities. Among other
things, it has provided them with seed of improved cultivars of
several crops, micro-credit, small-scale water-harvesting and irrigation
works, and training on profitable and sustainable farming.
Tangible impact
As a result of the project, hundreds of subsistence farm families
now obtain several times their previous yields of small grains,
potatoes, maize, and peas, and their average incomes have increased
from USD 1 to USD 2 per day. The increased yield in wheat, for example,
meant they could move it to more marginal land and still have enough.
With food security assured this released land for crops with enhanced
market value. Farmers are moving into diverse
Students in the elementary school “Escuela
Fiscal Mixta Panupali,” of Conchabón Village,
Ecuador, enjoy a late-morning meal provided through a national
school lunch program. The maize ears are of a quality protein
maize (QPM) variety resulting from crosses performed by Bolivian
researcher Gonzalo Ávila using Andean varieties and
CIMMYT seed. Saraguro farmers have tested the QPM with good
results, and it will be released formally by INIAP in fall
2007. |
cash crops—improved
pea varieties from Minchala’s work, tomatoes, onions, and
fruits—as well as home gardens to improve household diets.
With support from the project, producers are also adopting resource-conserving
practices. One example is use of a perennial grass that anchors
steep slopes against erosion and also serves as excellent forage
for the cuy, a small mammal raised in the Andes and whose meat goes
for around US$ 7 per kilogram on local markets. Finally, and not
of least importance for Minchala, farmers are active, motivated,
and organizing to obtain inputs and better market access.
Close, fruitful connections
with international centers
Funding for recent work has come from INIA-Spain
and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). The project’s
operational budget is less than USD 30,000 per year, but participants
have drawn freely on products and support from local authorities
and several centers of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural
Research (CGIAR).
The project began with one farmer and a high-yielding
barley variety introduced by Hugo Vivar, former barley breeder from
the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas
(ICARDA) who was posted at CIMMYT (and who is now the CIMMYT consultant
on the project), and INIAP cereals specialist Jorge Coronel. On
the heels of that barley’s success, Vivar has brought Coronel
seed of improved drought-tolerant wheat from CIMMYT and an excellent
quality protein maize (QPM) variety now being used in food programs
for children at two rural schools and sold as green ears by farmers
for extra income. The erosion-controlling grass is a variety that
Vivar saw in Bolivia; convinced of its potential for Saraguro, he
sent sprouts to Coronel. Improved, disease-resistant potato clones
from the International Potato Center (CIP) have been introduced
by Coronel and are being adopted throughout the valley.
Ecuadorian researcher Jorge Coronel (left)
stands with farmer and Saraguro project village leader Marco
Namicela. Coronel has been spearheading the Saraguro project
since its inception, and is a well-known and welcome figure
in the region. As a young researcher in 1991, Coronel took
a six-month training course at CIMMYT in Mexico. “I
was especially impressed with the philosophy of Dr. Norman
Borlaug concerning the need to work with and for farmers,”
he says, adding that he since has applied this approach.
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Feeding the soil to foster
food security
Farmers say that, prior to the project, they often ran out of annual
grain supplies well before harvesting the next crops. As a result,
many had to work for months in the cities, sending back money so
their families could eat, and others would send their children to
labor in mines. Now farmers once again see hope of making a living
from their land. “Here we have no profession or livelihood
other than farming,” says Arturo Salvador Ortega Ortega, a
small-scale farmer from Lluzhapa village and one of the project’s
farmer-leaders. “We are returning to work our fields with
improved seed and fertilizer, and we’ll be able to get by.”
With improved harvests and support from the project, Ortega and
his peers are investing in community development works, including
reservoirs and irrigation for home gardens and a mill to provide
less-expensive flour and noodles for local sale. “But fertilizer
is the main thing we need,” says Ortega. “It’s
the basis of everything.”
Farmers throughout Saraguro have seen that fertilizer
makes the difference between subsistence and surplus harvests in
the region’s hardscrabble soils. Most farmers lack the cash
to purchase fertilizer at today’s prices. Suppliers sometimes
shortchange farmers by “bleeding” a kilo or two out
of 20 kilogram bags they sell, or by mixing in a white sand that
is nearly indistinguishable from the fertilizer. “We’ve
been providing fertilizer and seed of guaranteed quality at wholesale
prices,” says Coronel. “In the current arrangement,
farmers pay half up front and the remainder at harvest. Our payback
rate is always well above 90%.” Building on the trust and
contacts established this way, Coronel is encouraging a local project
technician to launch an agro-vet business in Saraguro to provide
quality seed, fertilizer, and other inputs.
INIAP’s “star” project
Julio César Delgado Arce, Director General of INIAP, visited
Saraguro in 2006, and was impressed at how resource-poor farmers
had improved their livelihoods through the adoption of improved
varieties and other practices. “Saraguro is the star project
of INIAP—it’s broad and involves diverse interventions
that address farmers’ needs. We’re trying to give it
all the support possible.” Delgado also had words of praise
for CIMMYT: “The Center continues to provide free access to
its materials, and we’re very happy with this.”
For more information: Kevin Pixley,
Associate Director, Global Maize Program (k.pixley@cgiar.org),
or Javier Peña, wheat grain quality specialist (j.pena@cgiar.org).
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