Dr Chris Ojiewo, AVISA project Co-Principal Investigator, outlined SEEDx and informed that it allows real-time capturing of data on varieties and allied technologies including date of sowing, agronomic practices, harvest yield, stakeholder feedback from field days and the geo-coordinates of demonstration plots. The collected data serves as key information for making business case for varieties, he said while adding that SEEDx complements earlier efforts made on digital seed catalogues to provide details of varieties’ traits. The webinar included a demonstration on access and use of the application by Mr Satish Nagaraji, Senior Manager, and Ms Kanika Singh, Senior Scientific Officer, from ICRISAT’s Digital Agriculture and Youth Theme.

The need for SEEDx

Farmers in Africa have limited access to quality seed of improved varieties despite the large number of variety releases and registrations. Limited access has led to high reliance on aging varieties that farmers usually obtain from neighbors, saved grain or local grain markets. These varieties lack the traits necessary to tackle existing and emerging biotic and abiotic stresses. Limited access also results in uncertainty in seed markets and makes improved varieties commercially non-viable for private seed ventures. Additionally, seed companies are unable to take informed decisions owing to lack of data on performance of newly released varieties in varied agro-ecological zones.

To address these gaps, SEEDx was developed through the AVISA project to collect, organize and make available robust data. The SEEDx data dashboard ingests secondary data on location-specific weather and soil parameters to create evidence and insights on variety performance.

The tool is already in use by AVISA partners including National Agriculture Research Systems (NARS); CGIAR institutions including ICRISAT, The Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT, and International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA); and Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture (SFSA).

What users have to say?

Mr Gerald Alex from Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) remarked that the application is user-friendly because his team is able to easily explain its use to extension officers. “Besides capturing basic and relevant information, SEEDx enables access to data from all places without physical visits by researchers,” he added.

Dr Nathalie Vignaux, Seeds2B Operational Excellence Lead at Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture (SFSA) noted that the collection of data and storage in one place through SEEDx brings transparency even as it helps in visualization of data, which is the first step towards enhancing varietal improvement process. She also emphasized the need to focus on creating awareness about the tool by demonstrating its use to farmers.

“This will show that SEEDx is more than just a statistical tool for depicting advancement of varieties from one stage to the next. It is an intervention for enhance informed decision-making among value chain stakeholders,” Dr Vignaux said to underscore its importance.

Explaining the reasons for low uptake of new varieties by seed companies, Dr Essegbemon Akpo, Seed Systems Specialist, ICRISAT ESA, said the existence of many new varieties is not widely known. He called on AVISA partners, especially NARS, to use SEEDx and generate data on the varieties, particularly from their diverse agro-ecologies. “The data will be useful for awareness creation among the stakeholders more so the seed companies,” he said.

Watch the SEEDx animation video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOESQtVL7eg&t=3s

This work contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goal.
   

Crop modeling is a process that describes different stages of crop growth and development depending on weather, climate and soil conditions adapted to the environmental context, explains Mr Adama Douyon, a student completing his master’s research in the Smart Food component of the EU-APSAN-Mali project (Enhancing Crop Productivity and Climate Resilience for Food and Nutrition Security in Mali). The training was taken up as a part of the project’s activities.

“The training’s main objective was to provide learners with knowledge of crop modeling using processes in plant nutrition and physiology, agricultural sciences, soil physic and hydrology, environment and meteorology. With the DSSAT model (dssat.net), they were given current concepts used in the modeling of the processes that determine plant growth,” said Dr Nadine O Worou, agronomist and a specialist in crop modeling at ICRISAT-Mali, who organized the trainings and instructed the participants.

The seven-session training was held on 7 and 8 December 2020 for doctoral and master’s students in breeding, environmental sciences, agronomy and agricultural economists. They were recruited for supporting research activities in the project.

Dr Nadine O Worou, Agronomist and crop modeler, instructing the participants. Photo: A Diama, ICRISAT

“I understood how to integrate the data into the model, to simulate and to interpret data resulting from the analysis,” Mr Douyon added.

At the end of the two-day training, the participants testified that the sessions enhanced their understanding of crop modeling approaches necessary for different climate change impact studies including those dealing with abiotic plant stress.

“I discovered DSSAT, a very interesting agronomic software. I also learned how to handle agronomic data and acquired essential notions of model sensitivity and data calibration. This will help me make simulations precise,” noted Mr Adama Coulibaly.

For others like Ms Kadiatou Toure, a PhD student deep diving into research, the training has helped comprehend real-world applications of modeling and shape plans for future experiments. And for some like Mr Kibarou Richard Denou, the training has made clear the differences between modeling and simulation.

“This training will be of great use to me in my future research work on sorghum modeling,” said doctoral student Mr Youssouf Bolozogola. He expressed the need for more training before he can apply his learnings.

Stressing the importance of regression analysis, Ms Adja Rokiatou Sangare said about DSSAT use, “I learned how to enter data, start a simulation, see the results, analyze the outputs and also check the parameters from regression analysis. The last step makes it possible to know if the model is good or not, and what to calibrate.”

“The simulated and observed values must be evolved to conclude that we have a good result. We can reduce model errors by making a calibration if the need arises,” added Mr Sékou Armand Sanogo.

“I would like a follow-up system to be put in place to support the students as they move to practicing what they have learned,” Mr Fabrice Feï-ingtena said, voicing the group’s demand.

A significant number of undernourished people live in rural Asia and Africa, many of whom are in smallholder farm households that largely depend on agriculture for livelihood. Typically, farmers consume a considerable share of what they produce, mostly cereals that lack essential micronutrients; hence, increasing on-farm diversity with different types of crops, vegetable and livestock species is seen as a promising way to improve household nutrition. However, farm diversity is declining on small farms across the world due to increased market oriented production systems and is resulting in increased dependence on local markets for diverse food. Therefore, local markets have become important in supplying diverse food to rural households.

In a recently published article in the Global Food Security Journal, this blogpost’s author with ICRISAT colleagues Dr S Nedumaran, Senior Scientist-Economics and Dr R Padmaja, Senior Scientist-Gender Research, investigated evidence for relative importance of local market access over farm production diversity for a household’s dietary diversity. The researchers screened 786 empirical research publications and identified 28 studies featuring related research in 14 developing countries (5 from Asia and 11 from Africa).

A consistent positive association between access to markets and dietary diversity was noticed in the studies reviewed. A few of them reported that market access had a more significant positive effect on dietary diversity than farm diversity. However, these findings cannot be generalized as they are context-specific.

Additionally, the study, “The interplay between food market access and farm household dietary diversity in low and middle income countries: A systematic review of literature”, demonstrates complexities associated with conceptualizing market access and difficulties in measuring it. The researchers believe information about multiple market access indicators in a specific context may thus better help conceptualize and measure market access.

The authors also identified eight research/knowledge gaps for future research. A few of them along with a few policy recommendations are mentioned below.

• Future research should focus on analyzing specific country or regional contexts, particularly in a diverse country like India, which is diverse in many aspects like agro-ecologies, socio-economics, culture, etc.
• None of the studies addressed how safe and hygienic foods are sourced from markets compared to their farms’ produced food.
• The use of market food price as an indicator might provide valuable insight into the roles of markets in dietary diversity. Market price as an indicator was not considered in any of the studies.
• More studies analyzing household dietary diversity’s seasonal differences must consider both own-farm production and markets as food sources.
• Either on-farm diversity or market access alone may not achieve the goal of improved nutrition in rural areas. That said, a policy emphasis on markets is warranted given the role they can play in complementing own production and the importance of food and nutrition security as a development goal. Food determines nutritional outcomes and therefore, nutrition-sensitive agricultural interventions that enable market access and promote farm diversity are needed to ensure nutrition sufficiency.

ICRISAT’s work in the TIGR2ESS project’s flagship-1 “Sustainable and Transformative Agrarian and Rural Trajectories (START)” is well placed to understand the relative importance of market access and farm production diversity on rural households’ nutritional outcome in semi-arid areas of Telangana, India. Empirical research is in progress to address a few of the knowledge gaps mentioned above. Through this work, it is hoped that the knowledge gaps identified can be filled by contributing to literature and providing evidence-based policy support to governments and development agencies in order to help design appropriate policies and programs to improve nutritional outcomes.

Dr Ravi Nandi
Associate Scientist-Socioeconomics/Agricultural Economics,
ISD-MIND, ICRISAT.

This work contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goal.
   

Gender responsiveness in product profiling

According to Dr Tawanda Mashonganyika, former product manager with CGIAR’s Excellence in Breeding (EiB) platform, while markets vary place to place, women are key players in them. As varieties developed using gender responsive (G+) tools address needs of both men and women, Dr Mashonganyika says they will have a greater chance of being adopted and a greater impact upon adoption.

In The AVISA Project, a cross-functional team has come together to develop product profiles that are gender responsive. A few salient points in this regard include:

Market economists in the team collecting data from farmers and consumers, both men and women, through choice experiments to understand utility that men and women assign to certain traits.

ICRISAT is participating in ongoing efforts by the Gender and Breeding Initiative (GBI) and EiB teams to design and test tools that can be used to “measure” gender responsiveness (G+ tools) in profiles of products and customers. As the learnings become clear, these tools will be applied in project’s breeding programs.

Youth transitions in the drylands

A study on youth transitions in the drylands in Tanzania, Uganda and Ethiopia revealed that definitions of youth in rural communities are based on cultural processes that are highly gendered.

For instance, girls have a much shorter transition pathway compared to boys. When a girl becomes a mother, she is not identified as “youth”; she is now a mother/an in-law/ a wife. When planning youth integration activities for The AVISA Project, awareness of these cultural definitions to avoid reinforcing exclusions in our interventions have been considered.

The youth transition study is informing the design of the Youth Quality Centers. These centers will be tested as a mechanism for integrating youth in the legumes and cereals seed value chains in Tanzania, working with quality inputs and outputs. This will be under the Seed Revolving Fund Initiative-Youth Engagement and Gender Inclusion (SRFI-YEGI), a cross-functional activity that is being implemented by ICRISAT, partner seed companies, Centre for Behavior Change Communication (CBCC), Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) and regional governments in Tanzania.       

In collaboration with CRP-GLDC, ICRISAT partnered with Sokoine University of Agriculture, Makerere University and Haramaya University for the study.

Gender Dynamics in Seeds Systems (G-SEED)

From the studies conducted on gender integration into breeding and seed systems, key learnings include:

Socio-cultural and gender considerations are crucial in grain legumes and dryland cereals seed systems to the adoption of improved varieties. They are also an important consideration for developing demand-driven product profiles for breeders to develop varieties that meet tastes, preferences, needs and practices of the society like gifting seeds that are early and drought tolerant to a new bride to help the family achieve food sufficiency.

Farmers are accessing grain legumes and dryland cereal seeds from open-air markets, cereal stockists, neighbors and friends instead of certified seed sources.

Cereal stockists play a significant role as influencers because they are present in almost all market centers in rural areas and are the first link to the market for rural farmers – especially women farmers.

For improved adoption, information packaging and communication have to be enhanced because, currently, information gaps exist between breeders, farmers and other seed system players that impedes adoption of improved seeds. For instance, the available information may be perceived as complicated by smallholder farmers. Many farmers also tend to associate certified seed with large-scale commercial farming.

ICRISAT, CGIAR Research Program-Grain Legumes and Dryland Cereals and CGIAR’s gender platform are helping The AVISA Project implementing these activities. As AVISA attempts to meet end-user demands and preferences, it is ensuring that the efforts to strengthen seed production and delivery systems are gender-responsive. It is now beyond doubt that a higher and equitable rate of varietal turnover is achievable only with gender-responsive efforts.

The AVISA Project aims to increase the rate of varietal turnover. The project is funded by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and United States Agency for International Development (USAID). It consolidates gains made by earlier initiatives Tropical Legumes III, HOPE-II and HarvestPlus – all funded by the foundation – while refocusing the work to improve the breeding and seed delivery systems of CGIAR and national agricultural research systems in seven countries of Sub-Saharan Africa.

About the author

Grace Waithira is a Communication Assistant in ICRISAT’s East and Southern Africa Program in Kenya.

Having achieved an H-index of 100, Dr Rajeev Varshney explains what the metric means in scientific publishing and why it is a milestone, especially in an agricultural scientist’s life.

H-index is an author-level metric that measures both productivity and citation impact of an author’s publications across the global scientific community. It is calculated by counting the number of publications in which an author has been cited by other authors. H-index 100 means each of the latest 100 of the author’s papers have been cited at least 100 times.

Opinions vary on these metrics and the number of citations is not the only way to measure scientific impact. But it certainly is one of the many metrics that recognize a scientists’ scientific outputs through publishing, and in turn, recognizes their science. Research publications are a great way to share the latest advancements in science with the global community. They also help reduce redundancy or duplication in research while directly or indirectly saving the valuable time and effort of the scientific community as also taxpayers’ money.

Generally speaking, medical science generates more research innovations that are used by different biological disciplines, including agricultural sciences. As a result, citations in medical science research are higher than agricultural science publications. When agricultural science publications have high citations, it does indicate that the research is making an impact in advancing science. The milestone of 100 h-index is a recognition of the high-quality science at ICRISAT with colleagues and partners from across the globe.

The metric that matters even more

The real battle that agricultural science should wage is against hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition. Scientists in the same discipline anywhere can learn from the latest research and take it forward to address issues of smallholder farmers while advancing the cause of scientific research for global good.

As scientists, we believe in every study we conduct irrespective of the results we get. Some of the research we conducted with a large number of global partners has an edge over the others because of massive learnings from the multidisciplinary scientists involved. For example, our genome sequencing work of 429 chickpea lines was a collaboration of 39 scientists from 21 research institutes across 45 countries. It tapped next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology to better understand the genetic architecture, centre of origin, migration route as well as genetic loci for agronomic traits in chickpea. This study with several brilliant minds from across the world offered much learning for me.

There is a great sense of satisfaction when the upstream research we conduct delivers results in farmers’ fields in addition to advancing the cause of science for global good. As a genomics scientist, I provide research outputs for breeding programs that develop improved crops.

ICRISAT’s collaborative work on genomics-assisted breeding helped develop and release the first set of products in 2019. There were three high yielding, wilt resistant varieties of chickpea and two high-oleic varieties of groundnut. The Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research also released a high-yielding chickpea variety. The groundnut varieties were among the 17 biofortified crops dedicated to India on World Food Day 2020.

My efforts in genomics-assisted breeding will continue with an aim to accelerate the replacement of older crop varieties to help smallholding farmers improve their income and ensure better nutrition and health for the society.

Representing the project team from M&M, Rural Education and Agricultural Development (READ) and ICRISAT, Dr Rajesh Nune, Hydrologist at ICRISAT Development Center (IDC), received the “Best Watershed Project in Agriculture” award during an awards distribution ceremony that was held online on 16 January 2021.

“We thank India CSR for recognizing us,” Dr Nune said while acknowledging the recognition. “This collaboration addresses several issues including declining groundwater levels, surface water availability, declining soil quality, low crop yields and malnutrition, particularly among women and children. Through science-based interventions, we are showing farmers how they can harvest rainwater during monsoon and use it effectively in the dry season without degrading existing groundwater resources.”

He further said that the efforts have increased yields by 15% to 40% and led to additional incomes ranging between ₹ 5000 and 15000 (US$ 68 to 205) per acre (0.4 hectare) per year.

“Many people in Buchinelli village work in the Mahindra & Mahindra factory located just across the village. It is laudable that the sense of giving back to the village by M&M has transformed the village. This is the true spirit of CSR,” Dr Sreenath Dixit, Head, IDC, said.

Read more about the project’s initiatives here.

This work contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goal.
   

For the publication, the ICRISAT team contributed a background report on strengthening resilience through water management in rain-fed agriculture systems. Case studies from India and Ethiopia were also submitted. ICRISAT’s contributions to the FAO publication were made in collaboration with Prof Jennie Barron of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala.

The India case study was of scaling up water management interventions in Bundelkhand region to transform it into a productive landscape for sustainable farm livelihoods. The interventions reduced run-off by 36% in the intervention area of Parasai-Sindh watershed in the region. Soil loss reduction of 62% was achieved. This increased groundwater recharge by 46% and crop productivity in the range of 10 to 70%.

Similarly, government-led sustainable land management programs for landscape rejuvenation in Ethiopian highlands were discussed in the Ethiopia case study. In the Yewol Mountains, for instance, a five-fold increase in irrigable land was recorded after the interventions took effect. Collaborations between Ethiopia’s Ministry of Agriculture and national and international innovation and knowledge centers were crucial for the work in the highlands. Both government and non-government organizations supported transfer of technology and development of tools to scale it up.

The State of Food and Agriculture report also mentions interventions in Kothapally watershed in south India. ICRISAT has implemented several interventions in this watershed area. The report states that these interventions reduced sediment loads in rivers and has had a positive impact on in-stream river ecology and lifespan of reservoirs.

Dr Claudia Sadoff, CGIAR’s Executive Management Team Convener and Managing Director of Research Delivery and Impact, began by stating that even at fairly senior levels, often women needed to fight unconscious bias from others and lack of confidence from oneself. She reminded the women that in order to make the most of the space they achieve, they have to stay strong and constantly push forward and create opportunities not just for themselves but for those after them. However, she also stated that one needed to be true to oneself and exercise choice as per their values, not according to others’ expectations.

Ms Alice Ruhweza, CGIAR System Board Member and Gender, Diversity and Inclusion (GDI) champion, recalled an exciting all-women trip to Antarctica that she had been on, which opened horizons of abilities and possibilities for her. She encouraged women to “Be visible, but don’t be afraid to be vulnerable.” “Think about what you can contribute and how you can do that,” she said.

Dr Chin Yee Chan, Scientist at WorldFish, described the various challenges she faced as a young researcher when the laboratory that she worked at shut down. “I learnt not to give up,” she says, all through several such hardships. “Uncertainties are always there in research particularly in these challenging times, but it is important to take one step after another and just keep going.

Dr Sadoff stated that gender-related policies were in the process of being refreshed under the One CGIAR initiative, with a set of relevant goals to ensure an inclusive and diverse workplace.

Dr Safaa Kumari, ICARDA Plant Virologist who was acknowledged on BBC’s 100 Women 2020 list, recommended that organizations, at the time of recruitment, consider how best they can stand out as a gender champion, especially for women.

“Confidence, gratitude and a conscious effort towards a healthy research lifestyle,” were listed by Dr Chan as the key factors for a successful and productive research career. “While it is important to stay focused on set priorities, you should also develop hobbies to keep you healthy and happy,” she said.

Dr Neal Gutterson, CGIAR System Board Member and GDI champion, the sole male panelist, said, “Data shows that greater diversity brings better research results; it attracts innovative research findings. Our stakeholders are very diverse, so to ensure uptake and have impact of our innovation strategy we need diverse groups.”

When asked, “How will the Gender, Diversity and Inclusion Framework contribute to our new innovation strategy of CGIAR?” Dr Gutterson replied, “We have an ambitious strategy with an ambitious goal. To achieve it, it’s going to take all of us – from across the spectrum of diversity of gender, nationality, disciplines. If we have to deliver the aspirations of the smallholder farmers, we need different ways of thinking,” he said.

On the role of male colleagues in supporting an inclusive environment, Dr Alice Ruhweza said, “Gender equality is not a women’s issue. It is a human rights issue. Men play a critical role in it, because often they have the power and influence to make a difference. Most importantly, gender equality generally means better outcomes for science.”

A background about the creation of WIRES and the introduction to the webinar was given by Ms Agathe Diama, Head – Regional Information and Smart Food Coordinator, ICRISAT-WCA, who is also one of the founding members of WIRES and was the event’s facilitator.

“WIRES wishes to recognize excellent CGIAR women scientists and researchers, and profile them as role models for younger women. Here, women can get to know and support one another, across geographies and disciplines, across nationalities and age. It is also about helping individuals find support and inspiration from people they would not normally meet, and encourage staff to connect and participate, especially in learning and social events,” she said.

Ms Diama announced two upcoming WIRES events. The first event, a 12-hour marathon knowledge session, is scheduled on 11 February to observe International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Young women scientists and researchers from across CGIAR will be invited to talk about their work during the event. The second event will be organized on 8 March to observe International Women’s Day.