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May, 2008
Source: E-newsletter vol
5 no
5
- May 2008
In some parts of Southeast Asia,
drought cuts farmers’ yields in 6 out of 10 years. Now drought
tolerant maize is set to reach farmers across the region, thanks
to capacity and relationships built by a
CIMMYT-led
project.
“Many of the hybrids we’ve already released use CIMMYT
germplasm—without it we couldn’t make such good hybrids for
farmers and we couldn’t make such a big impact on incomes or
development,” says Fan Xingming, maize breeder and Director
General of the Institute of Food Crops, Yunnan Academy of
Agricultural Sciences (YAAS), China.
Maize is increasingly important in Southeast Asia, both as a
staple food and as animal feed. It is grown—and eaten—by many of
the poorest farmers, often in severely drought-prone regions,
where harvests are also compromised by disease and poor soils.
With such farmers in mind, the Asian Maize Network (AMNET),
funded by the Asian Development Bank and led by CIMMYT, running
between March 2005 and October 2008, brought together scientists
from five Southeast Asian countries—China, Indonesia, the
Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam—to develop and deliver
drought tolerant maize varieties.
First-rate breeding materials and facilities
For the AMNET participants, two crucial inputs have been drought
tolerant germplasm supplied by CIMMYT, and funding for
establishing, expanding and/or enhancing effective drought
screening facilities in all five countries. The project is
already bearing fruit: the first varieties have been released
and many more are scheduled.
In Indonesia, for example, 5 drought tolerant hybrids,
incorporating Indonesian, CIMMYT, and Thai materials, and 10
open-pollinated varieties, found to be well adapted to drought
conditions using the new screening capacity, are undergoing
multi-location testing to select the best for national release
in 2009. “CIMMYT, through AMNET, has provided excellent
germplasm,” says Sri Sunarti, maize breeder with the Indonesian
Cereal Research Institute (ICERI). “With these elite lines we
can produce better drought tolerant hybrids. Hopefully the seed
can be provided at affordable prices—most Indonesian farmers
still have low incomes, below the national average.”
AMNET has catalyzed a new long-term focus for its members. “We
haven’t been very active in this line of research because of a
lack of government funds. Because of this project we have been
able to get our hands on drought tolerant materials from
CIMMYT,” says Artemio Salazar, Director of the Philippines’
maize program. “Now we’re doing drought tolerance work we
wouldn’t have done otherwise. Even though the project is ending
in 2008, we will be including drought tolerance screening as a
routine part of our breeding program.
Catalyzing relationships and sharing knowledge
Just as important as the concrete advances in breeding are the
enhanced capacity of the AMNET participants and the new
relationships it has fostered between them. “Not only me, but
all the members of the team get to know researchers from other
countries,” says Salazar. “You can’t put a dollar amount on it,
the enrichment of perspective and knowledge, and you don’t get
it if you stay in your institute or you’re always in the field.
This interaction has changed me even more than the germplasm.”
In the Philippines, as elsewhere, the AMNET project has led to
strong bilateral partnerships with other member countries; for
example, with Thailand in terms of seed exchange, and with
Indonesia in terms of sharing drought screening information.
Agricultural conditions in Indonesia and Philippines are
similar, and so the two countries are pursuing a collaboration
to collect data all year round, as their complementary wet and
dry seasons could allow for continuous screening. In other
partnerships exchange visits have been very important: “With
visits by Indonesian researchers to Thailand and China we have
been able to learn how they conduct research, take it back to
Indonesia, and implement advanced technologies,” says Sunarti.
AMNET has enabled a wide range of training, both internationally
and within each member country. The latter has included training
courses for local researchers and extension workers on subjects
such as drought tolerance breeding, screening, and seed
production, as well as support for students,
farmer-participatory trials and variety demonstrations, field
days, and farmer training programs. “Training for farmers has
given them better knowledge, leading to better production,” says
Sunarti.
Internationally, meetings have served as fora for training and
knowledge-sharing, and in March 2008 YAAS hosted the final AMNET
regional training meetings. With the project drawing to a close,
a major focus was workshops on understanding and documenting the
wider impact of the work carried out under AMNET on poverty
reduction and livelihood security, led by CIMMYT poverty
specialist Jonathan Hellin. The group discussed realistic ways
to capture the impact of all the aspects of the project, from
germplasm and training to new relationships, at all stages of
the process in getting maize varieties to farmers and beyond to
consumers.
“This is very new for me,” says Sunarti. “I used to see
everything as a breeder and now I have to change my whole point
of view. I really want to learn more and be able to translate
what I do in plant breeding into poverty alleviation. I’ve been
able to see the big picture, combining plant breeding and
poverty—it’s given me a new perspective.” Melicio Maghanoy,
agronomist at the University of the Philippines and first-time
AMNET attendee, echoes this sentiment: “The meeting has served
as a motivation for me as a breeder. Before I gave less
attention to impacts, but now I’m motivated to see that what I’m
doing will really help farmers.”
CIMMYT has provided the project with both expertise and
leadership. “We’re building on our success in drought tolerant
maize for Africa and bringing the benefits to Asia,” says Kevin
Pixley, Associate Director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program.
“CIMMYT is key—AMNET depends on CIMMYT,” says Sunarti. “The
networking and collaborations with other countries would not
have happened without AMNET. Maybe we would have connections
with a few countries, but we wouldn’t have the wider network.”
For Salazar, trust is important: “We know that CIMMYT wants us
to succeed.”
Across the AMNET countries the project has acted as a seed to
bring in funding and support from national governments, and the
teams are working hard to secure funding for partnerships and
projects arising from AMNET. There is clear enthusiasm for all
that AMNET has meant so far—new germplasm, new relationships,
new capacities, new perspectives—and enthusiasm to continue
working on drought tolerance into the future.
For more information: Kevin Pixley, Associate Director, Global
Maize Program (k.pixley@cgiar.org)
For an in-depth look at Thailand and AMNET, see the e-news story
New maize and new friendships to beat Thai drought.
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