Asian maize network tackles drought

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.