CIMMYT Books and Book Chapters

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What do we know about the future of wheat?
(Book Chapter, 2025-07-21) Kruseman, Gideon; Sonder, Kai; Pequeno, Diego; Reynolds, Matthew; Frija, Aymen
Wheat has been and will remain a major component of diets globally. It accounts for an average of 18 percent of total energy intake and 19 percent of total protein intake globally. It is the primary staple food for 1.5 billion resource-constrained people in the Global South. Wheat represents 29 percent of the global cereals area and 14 percent of the global cropland area. It is an important crop in most agricultural areas of the world except the humid tropics and is less prominent in sub-Saharan Africa. Compared to rice and maize, it is more drought- and cold-tolerant. Wheat will continue to be an important source of protein in 2050, even under changing diets. In meat-based diets, wheat is often part of animal feed. In plant-based diets, wheat is a source of protein. Climate change offers both challenges and opportunities for wheat. Areas previously unsuitable for wheat production may have a comparative advantage under climate change. Similarly, some traditional wheat-growing areas may become less suitable for wheat production under climate change, especially due to heat stress. While Jägermeyr et al. (2021) indicate it can be beneficial for many existing wheat-growing areas, the impacts, for example, of increased frequency and intensity of heat waves, warmer night temperatures, and other weather anomalies are likely to counteract some of the benefits. Some of the poorer regions of the world are historically considered to be wheat-deficit areas and will increasingly depend on imports. This is a key factor in Africa, where there is less wheat production and wheat consumption is increasing with rising incomes.
What do we know about the future of maize value chains in a changing climate and agrifood system?
(Book Chapter, 2025-07-21) Tesfaye Fantaye, Kindie; Sonder, Kai; Pequeno, Diego; Hartley, Faaiqa; Gbegbelegbe, Sika
Population growth, changing diets, and a rapidly growing feed sector are contributing to a sharp increase in global maize demand, which is expected to double by 2050 relative to 2010. Average global maize yield is projected to decrease by 11 percent under a global warming scenario of 2°C (2060–2084) relative to the 1986–2005 period (in the absence of technological change, adaptation, or market adjustments). The feed demand for maize is expected to grow faster in the coming few decades, largely driven by rapid economic growth and diet shifts in highly populated regions in Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. Meeting the growing demand for maize will require dramatic increases in production, marketing, use, and resilience of maize-based farming systems. While the supply of maize over the coming decades will be constrained by climate change and limited availability of land and water, technological and policy innovations will bring new opportunities. The combined challenges of increasing food demand, persistent poverty and malnutrition, natural resource depletion, and climate change will require the world to double the productivity and boost the sustainability and resilience of maize-based farming systems within planetary boundaries.
What do we know about the future of food systems in South Asia?
(Book Chapter, 2025-07-21) Nedumaran, Swamikannu; Thomas, Judy; Nandi, Ravi; Padmanabhan, Jyosthnaa; Afari-Sefa, Victor
Micronutrient availability in South Asia is projected to increase by 46 percent by 2050, reflecting a significant transition from traditional cereal-based diets to diverse, nutrient-rich foods, though affordability limits access for low-income groups. The shift from traditional diets to processed foods has led to an increase in obesity and diet-related noncommunicable diseases. Rising demand for animal-source foods also puts pressure on local resources and increases reliance on imports. Agriculture in South Asia relies heavily on freshwater, primarily groundwater, which is critically overused. Additionally, soil degradation and the burning of crop residues contribute to air pollution and pose risks to the sustainability and productivity of the region’s agricultural land. Climate change is expected to significantly affect crop yields, particularly for staples such as rice, wheat, and maize, with projected reductions by 2050. This climate impact will exacerbate food insecurity in the region, especially as food demand continues to grow. Current foresight studies often overlook the impacts of unexpected external shocks, such as pandemics and the Russia-Ukraine war, on agriculture and food systems. Addressing these research gaps and focusing on context-specific technological solutions, climate-smart practices, and self-sufficiency could enhance resilience and sustainability across South Asia’s agrifood sector.
What do we know about the future of crop pests and diseases in relation to food systems?
(Book Chapter, 2025-07-21) Petsakos, Athanasios; Montes, Carlo; Pequeno, Diego; Schiek, Benjamin; Sonder, Kai
Crop pests and diseases (P&D) can cause substantial yield losses and pose a threat to global food security. Losses at a regional level can even exceed 40 percent for crops like maize and rice. Most studies show that a warmer climate creates a conducive, albeit spatially variable, environment for P&D spread. However, existing foresight research is largely biophysical in nature and focuses on individual pathosystems, examined mostly at the national level. As such, projections of the magnitude of economic impacts of changing patterns of P&D are missing. Global assessment of model-based historical and future P&D impacts on food systems remains constrained by the small number of available models that can estimate yield losses under contrasting climate and agroecological conditions. Efforts are needed to improve data accessibility, model versatility, and simulation platforms and to establish international observation and modeling networks. Artificial intelligence (AI) and related methods can assist in the development of robust and adaptable models to capture the impacts of P&D on food systems.
Chapter Three. Conservation agriculture for regenerating soil health and climate change mitigation in smallholder systems of South Asia
(Book Chapter, 2023-07-29) Jat, Mangi L.; Gathala, Mahesh Kuma; Choudhary, Madhu; Sandeep Sharma; Jat, H.S.; Singh, Yadvinder P.
The increase in agriculture production to meet the food demand of growing human population from a limited availability of arable land with low environmental footprints and preserving natural resources (soil, water and air) simultaneously are major challenges in South Asia. The situation is further complicated by the climate change, which will further lower the food production, compounding the challenge of meeting food demand. Conservation Agriculture (CA) is solution to several challenges being faced in farming such as soil health, climate change, water scarcity, agricultural pollution, farm profitability, human health, etc. This exhaustive review examines the published literature from South Asia to assess the impact of CA on soil organic carbon (SOC) and the subsequent impacts on soil health (physical, chemical and biological properties), C sequestration and greenhouse gases emissions in major cropping systems. The results from several studies demonstrated that CA increased SOC and improved soil health parameters, mainly in the surface soil layer. The effects of CA on the changes in soil pH and electrical conductivity are small. The CA showed a remarkable positive impact on the nutrient availability in the soil. The CA system helped in both climate change mitigation and adaptation for sustainable crop production. The present gaps in our knowledge in soil health assessment and research agenda to fill the gaps are also included in this chapter. We hope this review of past accomplishments, current activities, and future opportunities will stimulate additional soil health research throughout the 21st century.
Chapter 2. Screening and use of nutritional and health-related benefits of the main crops
(Book Chapter, 2023) Ibba, Maria Itria; Palacios-Rojas, Natalia; Rosales-Nolasco, Aldo
Wheat, maize, rice, and barley play a critical role in the human diet, contributing to most of the calories and protein intake worldwide. This is mainly because of their higher productivity, storability, adaptability to different climate conditions, accessibility, and affordability, compared to other crops. However, even if food production has grown in the past years, nutrient deficiency is currently posing a serious threat, with millions of people suffering from malnutrition every year. Additionally, consumption of some cereals has been associated with adverse health reactions which affect 1%–10% of the world population. For these reasons, nutritional quality improvement of cereal grains has become a major target for all the stakeholders participating in cereal food production. Thus several breeding programs worldwide have been focusing on developing nutritionally enriched grains. This chapter will present the recent progress obtained in micronutrient biofortification (minerals, provitamin A, and anthocyanins), dietary fibers’ improvement, and modulation of protein content and quality in four major staple crops, wheat, maize, rice, and barley, using nontransgenic approaches. The feasibility of using natural variations, induced mutations, or other approaches involving genomic manipulation will also be discussed.
Is Scale-Appropriate Farm Mechanization Gendered? Learning from the Nepal Hills
(Book Chapter, 2023-06-12) Gartaula, Hom Nath; Singh, Madhulika; Paudel, Gokul Prasad
Scale-appropriate farm mechanization could be an important pathway to the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs) of attaining gender equality (SDG5) in agriculture. Gender and farm mechanization is getting attention in the academic and public policy domain as a solution to labor scarcity in the smallholder farming systems, which in recent years, is facing challenges of labor shortage due to male labor outmigration. Taking a case study from a maize-based farming system in Nepal hill, this paper illustrates how the promotion of scale-appropriate farm mechanization can be gendered. Using the household survey data collected from the mid-hills of Nepal from 179 mini-tiller adopter farmers, this paper reports that only 4% of the owners were women, and only 1% of women were involved in mini-tiller operations. We find that mini-tiller adopting male and female household head’s maize productivity, profitability, and production costs are similar. The paper concludes by identifying social perception against women, rugged topography, women’s low level of knowledge in operating machines, spare parts maintenance, and added responsibilities resulting in women’s lower participation in mini-tiller adoption decisions. This chapter suggests measures like awareness raising, increasing access, and training built around tailoring women’s needs to reduce the gender gap in farm mechanization.
Chapter 16. Increasing adaptation to climate stress by applying conservation agriculture in Southern Africa
(Book Chapter, 2022) Thierfelder, Christian L.; Steward, Peter R.
Climate change and soil fertility decline are threatening food security in southern Africa and efforts have been made to adapt current cropping systems to the needs of smallholder farmers. Conservation Agriculture (CA) based on minimum soil disturbance, crop residue retention and crop diversification has been proposed as a strategy to address the challenges smallholder farmers face. Here we analyse the potential contributions of CA towards adaptation to the effects of climate change by summarizing data on infiltration, soil moisture dynamics and crop productivity under heat and drought stress. The data were taken in the main from CIMMYT’s on-farm and on-station trial network. Data show that CA systems maintain 0.7-7.9 times higher water infiltration than the conventional tilled system depending on soil type, which increases soil moisture during the cropping season by 11%-31% between CA treatments and the conventional control treatment. This leads to greater adaptive capacity of CA systems during in-season dry spells and under heat stress. A supporting regional maize productivity assessment, analysing the results of numerous on-farm and on-station experiments, showed that CA systems will outperform conventional tillage practices (CP), especially on light-textured soils, under heat and drought stress. With higher rainfall and low heat stress, this relation was more positive towards CP and on clay soil there was no benefit of practising CA when rainfall was high. The long dry season and limited biomass production of CA systems in southern Africa require complementary good agricultural practices to increase other soil quality parameters (e.g. increased soil carbon) to maintain higher productivity and sustainability over time. This can be addressed by combinations of improved stress-tolerant seed, targeted fertilization, inclusion of tree-based components or green manure cover crops in the farming system, scale-appropriate mechanization and improved weed control strategies.
Chapter 8. Assessing the application and practice of conservation agriculture in Malawi
(Book Chapter, 2022) Bunderson, W. Trent; Thierfelder, Christian L.; Jere, Zwide D.; Museka, R.G.K.
The Conservation Agriculture (CA) system promoted by Total LandCare (TLC) and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is based on 14 years of experience grounded on the principles of minimum soil disturbance, good soil cover and crop associations. The platform to promote CA in Malawi was to build a strong base of knowledge about best practices through an innovative non-linear research–extension approach. Long-term on-farm trials were conducted in multiple sites across Malawi to compare yields and labour inputs of CA with conventional ridge tillage on the same footing. Results showed the superiority of CA in terms of maize and legume yields with significant savings in labour and resilience to climate change. The results provided the basis to upscale CA although adoption was lower than expected. Key challenges included: (i) lack of exposure and training; (ii) conflicting extension messages; (iii) misconceptions about inputs and tools for CA; (iv) resistance to change unless CA is clearly seen to be a better practice; (v) fears about controlling weeds, pests and diseases under CA; and (vi) perceptions that increased termites and earthworms are harmful to soils and crops.
Intensification of Crop–Livestock Farming Systems in East Africa: A Comparison of Selected Sites in the Highlands of Ethiopia and Kenya
(Book Chapter, 2014) Mekonnen, Kindu; Duncan, Alan J.; Valbuena, Diego; Gérard, Bruno; Dagnachew, L.; Mesfin, B.; Gedion, J.
The potential of valuation
(Book Chapter, 2022-10) Termansen, M.; Jacobs, S.; Dendoncker, N.; Ghazi, H.; Gundimeda, H.; Huambachano, N.; Lee, H.; Mukherjee, N.; Nemoga, G.R.; Ngouhouo-Poufoun, J.; Palomo, I.; Pandit, N.R.; Schaafsma, M.; Choi, A.; Filyushkina, A.; Hernandez-Blanco, M.; Contreras, V.; Gonzalez Jimenez, D.
The effects of adequate and excessive application of mineral fertilizers on the soil
(Book Chapter, 2023) Bijay-Singh; Sapkota, Tek Bahadur
Fertilizers increase availability of essential plant nutrients in the soil and alter many chemical, biological and physical soil properties. Fertilizers lead to the accumulation of soil organic matter (SOM), but the excessive application of nitrogen fertilizers is deleterious to SOM, may contribute to nitrate pollution of freshwaters and emission of nitrous oxide – a greenhouse gas. Nitrogen fertilizers can also cause soil acidification. Phosphatic fertilizers may contribute to eutrophication of surface waters, and heavy metal impurities in these may contaminate soils. Balanced fertilization positively affects soil organic matter and soil biota; and in general soil microbial life is positively influenced.
Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Security: Concept, Datasets and Opportunities for Computational Social Science Applications
(Book Chapter, 2023) Amjath-Babu, T.S.; López Ridaura, Santiago; Krupnik, Timothy J.
Ensuring food and nutritional security requires effective policy actions that consider the multitude of direct and indirect drivers. The limitations of data and tools to unravel complex impact pathways to nutritional outcomes have constrained efficient policy actions in both developed and developing countries. Novel digital data sources and innovations in computational social science have resulted in new opportunities for understanding complex challenges and deriving policy outcomes. The current chapter discusses the major issues in the agriculture and nutrition data interface and provides a conceptual overview of analytical possibilities for deriving policy insights. The chapter also discusses emerging digital data sources, modelling approaches, machine learning and deep learning techniques that can potentially revolutionize the analysis and interpretation of nutritional outcomes in relation to food production, supply chains, food environment, individual behaviour and external drivers. An integrated data platform for digital diet data and nutritional information is required for realizing the presented possibilities.
Working across Scales and Actors for Transforming Food Systems
(Book Chapter, 2023-01-31) Aggarwal, Pramod K.; Ambasta, Ashesh; Castellanos, Andrea; Gummadi, Sridhar; Højte, Simone; Martínez Barón, Deissy; Mwongera, Caroline; Ouédraogo, Mathieu; Radeny, Maren A.O.; Rusdall, Tone; Sander, Björn Ole; Sebastian, Leocadio; Wassmann, Reiner
The Climate-Security Nexus: Securing Resilient Livelihoods through Early Warning Systems and Adaptive Safety Nets
(Book Chapter, 2023-01-31) Läderach, Peter R.D.; Schapendonk, Frans; Shirsath, Paresh B.; Amarnath, Giriraj; Prager, Steven D.; Gummadi, Sridhar; Kramer, Berber; Govind, Ajit; Pacillo, Grazia
Insect Resistance
(Book Chapter) Tadesse, Wuletaw; Harris, Marion O.; Crespo-Herrera, Leonardo; A. Mori, Boyd; Kehel, Zakaria; El Bouhssini, Mustapha
Studies to-date have shown the availability of enough genetic diversity in the wheat genetic resources (land races, wild relatives, cultivars, etc.) for resistance to the most economically important insect pests such as Hessian fly, Russian wheat aphid, greenbug, and Sun pest. Many R genes – including 37 genes for Hessian fly, 11 genes for Russian wheat aphid and 15 genes for greenbug – have been identified from these genetic resources. Some of these genes have been deployed singly or in combination with other genes in the breeding programs to develop high yielding varieties with resistance to insects. Deployment of resistant varieties with other integrated management measures plays key role for the control of wheat insect pests.
Improving nitrogen use efficiency and reducing nitrogen surplus through best fertilizer nitrogen management in cereal production: the case of India and China
(Book Chapter, 2023) Sapkota, Tek Bahadur; Singh, Bijay; Takele, Robel
China and India are the two top consumers of fertilizer nitrogen (N) in the world not only to provide food security to 36% of the global population living in the two countries but also due to fertilizer-related government policies being followed during the last more than 50 years. Excessive fertilizer N use is now a cause of N-related environmental pollution as well as a concern for climate change. Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) at farmers' fields dictates both production of food crops as well as loss of N to the environment including efforts to curb climate change due to N2O emission. We used a gridded database on N input and N output for wheat, rice, and maize in China and India from 1961 to 2013 to synthesize the dynamics of NUE (percentage of applied N used by the crop) and surplus N (difference between total N input and N output) and in the light of relevant literature interpreted it in terms of past and future fertilizer N management scenarios and fertilizer related policies in the two countries. From 1961 to 2013, the percentage of fertilizer N in total N input in cereal crop production increased from 8–10% to 71–75% in India and from 30–37% to 80–84% in China. In both India and China, NUE has been continuously declining and in 2013 it was in the range of 20–24% (except 32% for wheat in India) due to several-fold increases in fertilizer N use and imbalanced use of fertilizer nutrients (particularly in India)—a consequence of huge subsidies provided by the governments on different fertilizer products. Estimates of maximum N output in the form of crop yield at saturating N input regimes determined from trajectories of N output as a function of total N input for 1961–2013 and 2001–13 revealed that crop and fertilizer N management for rice, wheat, and maize in India and China did not improve significantly since the Green Revolution era. As a large number of studies in India and China show that NUE can be increased by the advancement of technology front in terms of crop and fertilizer management and by reducing the fertilizer N rate without a significant reduction in the yield of crops, recommendations have been given for governments (to frame suitable policies), farmers, extension agencies, and fertilizer dealers.
Roadmap for strategic and tactical planning: implementation of an Integrated Agri-food System Initiative (IASI)
(Book, 2022) International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center; Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT
The complexity of agri-food systems demands increasing cross-institutional coordination and collaboration to strengthen science-based decision-making and agricultural planning. Reaching impact at scale requires not only scientific and technical innovations, but a better integration of political, social, economic, health, and environmental considerations through institutional innovations. The Integrated Agri-food System Initiative (IASI) is a multi-sector methodology that aims to (i) understand the challenges of a target agri-food system at a regional, national or local level, and (ii) identify a widely agreed solution set and realistic targets for a future improved agri-food system (Govaerts et al., 2021). Building on diverse existing knowledge resources, IASI facilitates a mindset shift towards sustainable and scalable innovations and stakeholder consensus on multi-partner and multi-scale integrated programs. The purpose of this roadmap is to guide development and implementation of the IASI methodology in any location by sharing best practices, enabling factors and useful tools, based on previous IASI cases. The IASI methodology has been developed to be an inclusive and participatory process that builds consensus through design thinking (i.e. understanding specific needs to define an innovative solution), informed by situation analysis, modeled predictions, and scenarios for a discontinuous future. This document’s primary intended users include stakeholders interested in large-scale planning to improve agri-food systems in distinct socioecological settings. Commonly, these stakeholders will be governments (Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Territorial Planning), CGIAR centers or National Agricultural Research and Extension Systems (NARES) that can serve as knowledge brokers. Application of the IASI methodology can generate strategies and quantitative SDG-aligned targets that have greater likelihood of supportive public and private investment. It emphasizes timely provision of information, options, and strategies to decision makers and multiple entry points for stakeholders with different interests (e.g. policymakers, rural communities, market players, banks, individuals). Moreover, the strategies and actions emerging from the IASI methodology reduce economic, reputational, operational and policy risks faced by governments, global donors, and agricultural sector financiers by offering a validated set of potential investments.
Management of wheat rust diseases, challenges and the way forward
(Book Chapter, 2022) Abeyo, Bekele G.; Badebo, Ayele
Wheat is the most important food security crop globally. Recent world wheat production stand at 766 million tons on 216 million hectares though wheat production is challenged by various biotic, abiotic, and other factors. As a global leader in wheat research, CIMMYT’s primary goal is to develop broadly adapted germplasm with high and stable yield, durable disease resistance, stress tolerance and acceptable end-use quality strategically addressing the different mega-environments such as irrigated regions, high-rainfall areas, acid soils, semiarid zones, tropical areas, and winter wheat zones. CIMMYT’s Global wheat program is one of the most important public sources of high yielding, nutritious, disease resistant and climate-resilient wheat varieties for Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The program works with the International Center for Agriculture Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat, and NARS. The CIMMYT wheat breeding program is supported by multidisciplinary team of experts with breeders strategically and internationally located at key regional offices to facilitate germplasm and information exchange as well as technically support NARS. The primary focus of the breeding program is on core (must have) traits with some emphasis on additional traits for specific environments. The center is crossing, selecting, developing, and distributing stable, and high yielding advanced lines which includes some Zn and Fe enriched germplasm, with durable pest resistance, stress tolerance and superior quality using the different strategies, and methods, highlighted. In addition, CIMMYT collaboration with Ethiopian NARS in some areas will also be briefed.
The CIMMYT wheat breeding strategies and its relevance to Ethiopia
(Book Chapter, 2022) Abeyo, Bekele G.; Badebo, Ayele
Wheat is the most important food security crop globally. Recent world wheat production stand at 766 million tons on 216 million hectares though wheat production is challenged by various biotic, abiotic, and other factors. As a global leader in wheat research, CIMMYT’s primary goal is to develop broadly adapted germplasm with high and stable yield, durable disease resistance, stress tolerance and acceptable end-use quality strategically addressing the different mega-environments such as irrigated regions, high-rainfall areas, acid soils, semiarid zones, tropical areas, and winter wheat zones. CIMMYT’s Global wheat program is one of the most important public sources of high yielding, nutritious, disease resistant and climate-resilient wheat varieties for Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The program works with the International Center for Agriculture Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat, and NARS. The CIMMYT wheat breeding program is supported by multidisciplinary team of experts with breeders strategically and internationally located at key regional offices to facilitate germplasm and information exchange as well as technically support NARS. The primary focus of the breeding program is on core (must have) traits with some emphasis on additional traits for specific environments. The center is crossing, selecting, developing, and distributing stable, and high yielding advanced lines which includes some Zn and Fe enriched germplasm, with durable pest resistance, stress tolerance and superior quality using the different strategies, and methods, highlighted. In addition, CIMMYT collaboration with Ethiopian NARS in some areas will also be briefed.

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