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CIAT’s Partnership with Agricultural research to feed the future

Achieving Food Security and Rural Prosperity across the TropicsStewardship Report

International Center for Tropical AgricultureSince 1967 / Science to cultivate change

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Innovating for impact in agriculture

Nearly 1 billion people worldwide live with severe hunger and poverty. Many are farmers, who struggle to obtain food and a livelihood from small plots, despite declining soil health, worsening plant disease and pest problems, an increasingly variable climate, and weak policies and markets. Enabling these farmers to win the fight against hunger and poverty is more urgent than ever.

CIAT is just as dedicated to this task today as it was when the Center opened its doors in 1967, with support from three US foundations and the Colombian government. The difference is that the Center now brings to the fulfillment of its mission nearly five decades of experience in key research areas. At the core of CIAT’s mission and comprehensive strategy is the concept of eco-efficiency. We strive to make production more competitive and profitable as well as sustainable and resilient through economically and ecologically sound use of natural resources and purchased inputs.

Crop improvement is a key leverage point for bringing about those aims. CIAT conducts research globally on cassava, common bean, and tropical forages as well as on rice in Latin America and the Caribbean. Our researchers work in two other critical areas as well – soils and policy analysis – which cut across all tropical crops and environments.

Through research on soil management and land restoration, the Center opens new pathways toward sustainable intensification of crop production, while improving the ecosystem services on which rural communities depend.

CIAT’s Decision and Policy Analysis (DAPA) Research Area provides the evidence base for better decisions concerning climate change adaptation and mitigation, sustainable ecosystem management, and linking farmers to markets.

CIAT’s Global Vision

Purpose-driven research

CIAT scientists and partners deliver new technologies, methods, and knowledge that better prepare farmers to meet current and future needs. The Center harnesses the power of science to drive transformative agricultural growth. At CIAT, we’re

“Impact in farmers’ fields, not learned publications, is the measure by which we will judge our work.” – Norman Borlaug

Recognizing that sustainable development depends on women and men enjoying equal opportunities to realize their potential, CIAT’s gender specialists strive to ensure that all of our strategies and programs contribute to reducing gender gaps.

The Center has a proven record of delivering results that address the challenges smallholders must face as well as a solid reputation for integrity, innovation, and transparency in all of its activities. Aware that effective collaboration is essential for achieving impact, we take pride in our strong and growing partnerships with NGOs, governments, the private sector, donors, and other CGIAR Centers around the world.

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An unfinished legacy in agricultural development

For over 50 years, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has pushed the frontiers of innovation to develop, test, and advance best practices in agricultural and rural development. Around the same time that President John Kennedy was reshaping the nation’s food aid program into a global humanitarian mission, USAID and the American scientist Norman Borlaug were ushering in the Green Revolution.

Today, we need similarly ambitious efforts to achieve large-scale development impacts. The global community must increase agricultural productivity by at least 60% to feed a projected population of more than 9 billion people by 2050. CIAT and CGIAR as a whole work in partnership with US institutions to meet this challenge, mobilizing science and private initiative to reduce poverty, hunger, and malnutrition in the tropics. CIAT works especially closely with USAID, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), US Department of State, and US Geological Survey (USGS). In addition, the Center collaborates with private foundations, the Peace Corps, numerous universities, and other US institutions. Together, we develop and promote new technologies and practices, expand nutrition interventions and programs, and conduct cutting-edge research to create new rounds of innovation for smallholder farmers.

In times of global economic uncertainty, governments are looking to benefit the greatest number of people and deliver the greatest value for money. Investing in agricultural research and technology is a highly effective way to achieve both of these aims. When farmers grow more food and boost their incomes, this creates a development ripple effect, which enables rural families to send their children to school, pay for health care, and invest in the future, leading to more resilient, secure, and prosperous societies.

The strategic investments that USAID has made in CIAT over the years have contributed significantly to our mutual goals. We are grateful to USAID for its steadfast commitment to scientific and policy research for development. We look forward to strengthening our partnership and to aligning our work with the new Feed the Future strategy, with the shared aim of transforming agriculture to achieve sustainable reductions in hunger and poverty.

proud of our ability to generate cost-effective, equitable solutions to poverty and food insecurity, which can be scaled up to deliver lasting impact.

CIAT has a strong presence across the tropics with regional offices in Colombia, Kenya, and Vietnam. Our global team assesses opportunities to achieve

In Partnership with USAID

food security and economic growth, and responds with unique approaches designed to provide farmers with improved seeds; better practices for enhancing soil fertility and land management; stronger links with agricultural markets; more effective technical assistance; and easier access to technologies, services, and information.

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A sweet potato a day

Vitamin A deficiency can lead to blindness, disease, and premature death. All it takes to avoid these consequences is an amount of orange sweet potato that would fit in one ice cream scoop – enough to provide a child with his or her full daily dose of this essential nutrient. Since 2007, HarvestPlus, USAID, and other partners have been spreading the benefits of this improved sweet potato across Uganda.

A 30-episode radio drama series, called My Children, was aired on 10 stations in 6 languages to raise awareness of how to grow and prepare this nourishing food, which is now being consumed in more than 126,000 farm households by about three-quarters of a million Ugandans.

“Besides steaming and boiling, families make flour from the orange sweet potatoes, which, in combination with wheat flour and other

ingredients, can be used to make chapaties, donuts, and porridge,” said Anna-Marie Ball, HarvestPlus country manager for Uganda.

To ensure that vines for planting the new sweet potato reach all interested farmers, including those who cannot afford to buy them, HarvestPlus has created a mechanism that allows farmers to “pay back” the costs after their first harvest by providing vines to other poor farmers for free. In 2013, more than 28,000 households received vines through this payback system.

Better climate-smart decision making

In the wake of severe droughts across the West African Sahel during 1972-84, the Malian government’s meteorological service and agriculture ministry worked with local, regional, and global partners to develop a means for farmers to receive weather forecasts and advice on how to respond. Some 30 years later, while similar programs in neighboring countries have failed, Mali’s program continues, enabling farmers to employ better practices, achieve higher yields, and improve their livelihoods.

USAID, Columbia University’s International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), CIAT, and the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) are closely assessing this work to identify opportunities and challenges in providing rural communities with useful climate information. As scientists formulate lessons learned, they will share these widely to help other countries replicate Mali’s success.

Nourishing Nigeria

About 100 million Nigerians – 60% of the country’s population – consume cassava daily, so there is a potentially enormous market for yellow cassava, which provides vitamin A. In 2013, more than 100,000 Nigerian farmers in some 2,000 villages planted stems of the improved cassava for the first time. In addition, about 650 extension agents and rural facilitators were trained in improved agronomic practices. Our partners are multiplying cassava on 650 hectares to satisfy farmers’ growing demand for planting materials. With more than 350 broadcasts of vitamin A messages, several documentaries, radio jingles, and extensive coverage in the news, the future of vitamin A cassava in Nigeria looks bright.

Three new varieties were released in July 2013, when Akinwumi Adesina, Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, formally

Impact of USAID’s Investments

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launched a national dissemination program for vitamin A cassava under the federal government’s Cassava Transformation Agenda.

The next step was to develop new food products from vitamin A cassava. The state government of Akwa Ibom, one of HarvestPlus’s initial target states, funded the construction of a factory to process gari and fufu, traditional foods made from the biofortified cassava. Private sector partners in Oyo State are also processing and packaging these foods for local and international markets. Model demonstration villages, where the full value chain can been observed, were set up in four states and are quickly becoming hubs for technology transfer to neighboring villages.

Seed systems under stress Drought, civil strife, and other disasters affecting African nations spur an outpouring of emergency food and seed aid. But there are serious doubts about the long-term effectiveness of these activities. CIAT, Catholic Relief Services, and CARE Norway, with funding from USAID, conducted eight case studies to evaluate various forms of emergency seed aid, coupled with analysis of the broader seed and crop systems. The objectives were to determine if and how this assistance benefits the vulnerable farmers who receive it and to identify more effective practices for future emergencies.

Each of the case studies (conducted in Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda, and Zimbabwe) was unique. Yet, they all supported the overall conclusion that relief organizations generally use an emergency response – seed aid – to treat problems that are actually rooted in chronic poverty. These agencies tend to base their emergency interventions on assessments of food availability without accompanying assessments of seed systems. In the absence of information, they assume that seed is in short supply and choose the default option of providing emergency seed aid. Much evidence shows, however, that seed systems

are actually quite resilient. After the genocide in Rwanda, for example, local seed markets continued to function, and crop diversity profiles remained stable.

The case studies helped provide a firm evidence base for relief interventions and made available effective tools for quickly assessing seed systems in situations of acute and chronic stress on regional and national scales. Now, with continued USAID support, CIAT and partners are focusing on strengthening local capacity to conduct seed system assessments in Zambia, Timor Leste, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Madagascar.

Better crops, better nutrition

In the village of Muyumbana in Central Zambia, maize is everywhere – reaching 2 meters or more in height and covering nearly every bit of open space. Unfortunately, farmers can’t always count on their

“It is now possible to imagine a world without widespread hunger and

malnutrition.” – USAID Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah

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spectacular and rare biodiversity and serving as a massive carbon sink. It is also the source of food and livelihoods for the approximately 60 million people living in the region. Despite the Basin’s natural riches, poverty is prevalent; livelihood opportunities are limited; and supplies of nutritious food are limited and variable.

The Central African Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE), begun in 1995, is USAID’s largest land management program in Africa and represents an important effort to preserve the Congo Basin’s ecosystem. USAID, CIAT, and other partners in the Congo Basin Forest Partnership are working with governments and local communities to sustainably manage natural resources and make long-term plans for forest land use. The program has established participatory micro-zoning, improved agricultural livelihoods, and enhanced preparedness for participation in forest carbon markets, reaching more than 4,000 households in northern DRC.

crops getting enough rain. But the ones planting orange maize are less worried, because they know that, despite poor growing conditions, their plots of orange maize will provide a more nourishing product than white maize.

A Feed the Future-supported project implemented by HarvestPlus has been demonstrating the benefits of orange maize ever since three new varieties possessing higher levels of vitamin A were released in 2012 by the Zambia Agricultural Research Institute. Orange maize – when eaten as a porridge-like staple food known as nshima – can provide half the average daily requirement of vitamin A for women and children. The new varieties are also high yielding, disease resistant, and drought tolerant, making them more productive and resilient under stress.

Farmer leaders test the new technologies, serving as models for others. Local seed companies working in partnership with HarvestPlus are multiplying seed of orange maize, so they can start supplying farmers in the Central, Eastern, and Southern Provinces.

Reactivating sustainable agricultural practices

The Congo Basin contains the second largest tropical rainforest in the world, sheltering

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Partnerships with US Universities

•Purdue University•Michigan State University•Kansas State University•Colorado State University•Texas A&M University• Iowa State University

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Project Name CIAT Leader(s) PeriodUS$

(in ‘000)

Climate-smart agriculture strategic support for Feed the Future stakeholders and national institutions

Evan Girvetz 2014–2015 650

Geo-spatial analytical tools for data-informed decision-making for missions in support of climate-smart agriculture

Steven Prager 2014–2015 500

The agricultural model intercomparison and improvement project Glenn Hyman 2014–2015 25

Mali Climate Services PartnershipAndy Jarvis &

Bruce Campbell2014–2015 235

Africa rising: Research in sustainable intensification for the next generation

Michael Selvaraj, Manabu Ishitani &

Eliud Birachi2013–2015 593

Effecting change in seed security response: In crisis, chronic stress, and developmental contexts

Robin Buruchara 2010–2014 814

Introducing improved food and feed crop varieties in the maize-based farming systems of Babati

Jean-Claude Rubyogo 2012–2013 59

Transforming key maize production systems in Eastern and Southern Africa

Lulseged Tamene Desta & Job Kihara Maguta

2012–2013 356

Land management strategies to intensify cereal-legume farming systems in Ghana

Fred Kizito 2013 92

Global Cassava Partnership Joe Tohme 2013 98

Restoration and conservation of biodiversity in El Salvador through the adaptation and dissemination of the slash-and-mulch agroforestry system

Steven Fonte & Pablo Danny Siles Gutiérrez

2012–2013 159

Low-emissions development strategies in Colombia Bernardo Creamer 2013 183

HarvestPlus Joe Tohme 2013 245

Dissemination of pro-vitamin A maize in Zambia’s Eastern Province Robin Buruchara 2011–2013 600

Bean research in Uganda Robin Buruchara 2011–2012 600

A catalogue of tested crop, soil, and water management options under varied land degradation conditions and socio-economic environment in the target areas of Tanzania, Malawi, and Zambia

Patrick Kiiti Mutuo 2012 228

Strengthening partnerships for innovation in beans, groundnuts, and sesame research and technology transfer in Mozambique

Rowland Chirwa 2011–2012 289

USAID-funded projects

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CIAT ContactsRuben G. EcheverríaDirector Generalruben.echeverria@cgiar.org

André ZandstraHead, Partnerships & Donor Relationsa.zandstra@cgiar.org

HeadquartersKm 17, Recta Cali-PalmiraApartado Aéreo 6713Cali, ColombiaPhone: +57 2 4450000

www.ciat.cgiar.org

Promise to partners

Our innovative research is carried out with the highest integrity and transparency, according to an agenda that is socially and environmentally responsible. We monitor and evaluate the impacts of all our programs to bolster meaningful knowledge sharing and learning. CIAT’s endeavors are demand driven, harnessing creativity and integrating environmental sustainability, gender equality, and policy and institutional considerations into our activities. CIAT ensures that donor investments lead to tangible results for the poor.

Looking forward: developing joint visions

Working alongside US partners in classrooms, laboratories, markets, and farmers’ fields, CIAT harnesses global expertise and partnerships that empower poor people to provide for their families and that shed light on new solutions to today’s global challenges. In keeping with USAID’s efforts to end extreme poverty and promote resilient societies, CIAT strives to advance our mutual aims.

Africa Regional Office c/o International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE)Duduville Campus, off Kasarani RoadP.O. Box 823-00621Nairobi, KenyaPhone: +254 20 8632800 or +254 721 574967 Robin Buruchara: r.buruchara@cgiar.org

Asia Regional Office c/o Agricultural Genetics InstitutePham Van Dong StreetTu Liem (opposite the Ministry of Security)Hanoi, VietnamPhone: +844 37576969Dindo Campilan: d.campilan@cgiar.org

Photos: N. Palmer/CIAT and G. Smith/CIAT

Headquarters Africa regional hub

Asia regional hub

The global reach of CIAT research

December 2014