ABOUT INNOVATION AINNDNOVATING The CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers FOR ITMHE PACT and Bananas (RTB) is a partnership collaboration of research-for-development stakeholders and partners. Our shared purpose is to exploit the underutilized FUTURE ANNUAL potential of root, tuber and banana crops for improving REPORT nutrition and food security, increasing incomes and fostering greater gender equity – especially amongst the world’s poorest and most vulnerable populations. Bioversity I n t e r n a t i o n a l @rtb_cgiar Alliance www.facebook.com/rtbcgiar www.linkedin.com/company/rtbcgiar Innovation and Impact RTB Annual Report 2020 Published by the CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and 8 Flagship 1 Bananas (RTB) Enhanced genetic resources RTB thanks all donors who supported the program through their contributions to the CGIAR Trust Fund: http://www.cgiar.org/funders Introduction 9 Gender and social inclusion guiding more impactful breeding products 50 Flagship 4 RTB Program Management Unit 4 Dashboard 12 Choose the best and the worst out of three: Tricot Nutritious food International Potato Center simplifies variety testing with large numbers of farmers and value added Av. La Molina 1895, La Molina, Perú 14 Genomics and bioinformatics to breed for rtb@cgiar.org • www.rtb.cgiar.org Contents 5 Foreword 6 RTB at a glance high-yielding, biofortified sweetpotato 51 Iron fist potatoes, integrating nutrition and July 2021 18 Genomics sheds light on origins of Guinea yam agriculture in social protection programs 19 Sweetpotato’s wild relatives may help the crop adapt 53 Breeding for better nutrition: Correct citation to climate change Iron-rich potatoes and sweetpotatoes to RTB. 2020. Innovation and Impact. ISSN: 2308-5932 Annual Report 2020. Lima (Peru). DOI: 10.4160/23085932/2019 21 Conserving crop diversity on farm combat anemia CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Hecho el Depósito Legal en la 54 Consumers have their say: assessing and Tubers and Bananas. Biblioteca Nacional del Perú breeding for preferred quality traits of 24 Flagship 2 roots, tubers and cooking bananas Available online at: No 2018-13810 www.rtb.cgiar.org/2020-annual-report 57 Meeting consumer preferences for boiled Adapted productive and pounded yams in new varieties Coordination: Sarah Fernandes varieties and quality seed Writing: Jeffery Bentley, Sarah Fernandes 25 Breaking the adoption ceiling of modern varieties 58 Flagship 5 Editing: Sarah Fernandes, Graham Thiele, 28 Innovations in early generation seed show promise to Michael Friedmann, Enrico Bonaiuti, Vivian Polar get new varieties into farmers’ hands faster Improved M&E Dashboard and Finance: 31 Getting more for less with seed yam livelihoods at scale Diego Paredes, Hanna Weberhofer 32 Adapting regulatory frameworks to RTB crops: Logistics: Zandra Vasquez unlocking a major bottleneck to broader impact 59 The Scaling Fund: improving the scaling readiness of innovations Design: Elena Taipe 63 Modelling farming systems to optimize interventions © International Potato Center on behalf of RTB 34 Flagship 3 64 Encouraging farmers to take collective Resilient roots, tubers and bananas action to manage plant disease 35 Better pest management by understanding gender differences 38 Weathering the storm with sweetpotatoes and other root crops Creative Commons License 41 Global cooperation fights a potentially devastating banana 66 Knowledge products This work by the International Potato Center is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). pandemic 67 Partners To view a copy of this license, visit: 44 Alliance for Banana Bunchy Top Disease Control in Africa 68 Donors https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. Permissions beyond 48 Identification of banana diseases and their spread using remote the scope of this license may be available at: 69 Financial report sensing and smartphones http://www.cipotato.org/contact/ Dashboard OUTCOMES case facts Foreword 163 INNOVATIONS developed and 30 Policies and regulations in the agriculture and nutrition sector developed and In 2020, the CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB) and disseminated adapted based on scientific evidence its partners continued with a comprehensive portfolio of cutting-edge science from all years provided by RTB participants while simultaneously giving more attention to scaling. As in previous years, this year’s report is outlined around five clearly defined, high-impact flagship CAPACITY 77 Reported in 2020 as new 12,700,000 innovations, updated stage Households benefited from RTB projects comprising research and innovation, including vital cross-cutting development activities or same stage with new improved varieties and practices topics like gender, youth, and climate change. evidence in SSA and Asia 407,907 Participants in In this period of unprecedented change, we are actively promoting a Some highlights this year include genomic tools to tackle short-term trainings and scaling activities SWEETPOTATO smooth transition to One CGIAR. While 2021 is the final year of RTB, complex bottlenecks in breeding, examining how to break 6,200,000 many of our innovations and partnerships will continue to contribute through the 40% adoption ceiling for improved root, tuber and 433 to science for crops that provide food security, especially as poor banana varieties, innovations to identify and manage banana All degrees Households using vines of households in the developing world adapt to the crisis of climate bunchy top virus (a serious disease), giving consumers their say in improved varieties in 17 countries change. We have built on our RTB partnership collaboration to create defining future crop varieties, and how farmers can use ICT to take 159 Only PhD of sub-Saharan Africa countries a set of collective knowledge assets that we call golden eggs, collective action to manage potato diseases. available as an online resource for wider use in One CGIAR. Golden As these stories show, RTB is a program that adds value to the BANANA eggs include frameworks, approaches, and tools, developed by a work of its collaborating centers and partners, creating a critical 600,000 community of users. The golden eggs show the value-added of the mass that contributes to the many successful outcomes and RTB partnership collaboration in addition to crop-specific Farmers adopted practices impacts. RTB has brought together partners from around the innovations. In the years ahead, these golden eggs will contribute to to control Xanthomonas world to ensure that root, tuber and banana crops benefit from wilt of banana in East Africa an array of research for gender-responsive development activities the excellent research needed to raise productivity, adapt to with wide applicability to roots, tubers and bananas as well as to climate change, and help women and men farmers improve the other crops and cropping systems. We will nurture these golden eggs food security of their households. We thank all our partners and CASSAVA in the transition to the One CGIAR framework beginning in 2022, donors whose outstanding contributions have made these 3,100,000 contributing to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. achievements possible and wish them success as they continue Households In 2020 we have met the challenges of COVID-19, a health crisis with their work with One CGIAR. adopted improved great impacts on food systems. The teams on the ground found varieties in Nigeria ways to adjust and keep the research advancing, despite logistical challenges. Roots, tubers and bananas sustain local value chains POTATO which are less vulnerable to supply chain disruptions than globally 2,800,000 traded cereals. During this challenging year, roots tubers and Barbara H. Wells Graham Thiele bananas have played a vital role: raising incomes, enhancing climate Households using CIP Director General RTB Program Director resilience, and improving nutrition, food security and gender equity. improved varieties in 4 China, India and Nepal 5 RTB AT A GLANCE The CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB) This collaborative approach contributed to increase the benefits of the centers’ research and interventions for smallholder farmers, consumers, and was launched in 2012 to harness the untapped potential of banana (including other actors in root, tuber and banana agri-food systems. RTB consolidates plantain), cassava, potato, sweetpotato, yam, and other root and tuber crops to research in five interdisciplinary flagship projects (FPs), described throughout The contribution of RTB golden eggs to the One CGIAR structure for transforming global food systems improve food security, nutrition and livelihoods. RTB is a partnership this report. Each flagship has a dynamic leader based in one of the centers. A flagship is a set of interrelated research ‘clusters’ with clear impact pathways RTB developed a set of collective knowledge assets collaboration led by the International Potato Center (CIP) implemented jointly AKILIMO – through which RTB centers and their partners collaborate to achieve impact. Strategic research customized Demand led through the RTB partnership collaboration in addition priority assessment digital Seed system quality traits with the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for toolkit to crop-specific innovations that we call “golden The nested impact pathways at the cluster and flagship project levels are at TR-4 agronomy toolbox management advice eggs”. These are available as an online resource for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture the heart of the program’s results-based management. A monitoring and Modeling strategies wider use. Golden eggs can be defined as frameworks, evaluation system, aligned with the overall CGIAR performance management platform for (IITA), and the Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique Action trade-off approaches, tools together with their community of framework is implemented through MEL, an online planning, monitoring, analysis Resilient Areas System Agrifood Genetic developers and users that show the value-added of pour le développement (CIRAD), which represents several other French partners evaluation, and learning platform, collaboratively developed with several CRPs Transformation Systems Information the RTB partnership collaboration. These golden eggs in the research program. The centers have teamed up to collaborate on common and centers. In 2020, RTB collaborated with 221 partners, primarily national can contribute to an array of research for agricultural research organizations, academic and advanced research Gender Farmer issues affecting RTB crops, mobilize complementary expertise and resources, responsive development activities with wide applicability for institutions, private companies and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). business AR4D portal Digital alliance In situ Scaling schools pest and disease G+ breeding Tricot roots, tubers and bananas as well as other crops. The avoid duplication of efforts, and create synergies. These partnerships play an increasingly important role in scaling ensuring that readiness management tools golden eggs in the transition to the One CGIAR research benefits women and men alike and engages youth. framework will contribute to the UN’s Sustainable Source: One CGIAR research strategy 2030 Development Goals for 2030. SUSTAINABLE 20 MILLION PEOPLE (50% women) increased their income 10 MILLION 1.9 MILLION ha AT LEAST 2 MILLION HOUSEHOLDS have increased DEVELOPMENT 30,000 SMALL AND MEDIUM enterprises operating PEOPLE (50% of current RTB capacity to deal with climate risks and extremes protably in the seed and processing sectors women) have crops production improved their area converted to 9,500 INDIVIDUALS (50% women) in partner GOALS 8 MILLION FARM households increased yield diet quality sustainable organizations have improved capacities Selected RTB through the adoption of improved varieties and cropping systems AT LEAST 5 PARTNERSHIP and scaling models sustainable management practices Program targets (2022) tested in a minimum of 5 target countries 6 7 Gender and social inclusion guiding ENHANCED more impactful breeding products GENETIC RESOURCES The Gender and Breeding Initiative (GBI) has piloted a set of G+ tools for gender- responsive breeding. The tools have been successfully piloted in several breeding programs and have attracted attention from breeders and social scientists in many CGIAR centers. The tools help multidisciplinary teams to share knowledge and collaborate as they address gender and social inclusion when setting breeding Flagship Project 1 priorities for new crop varieties. Cassava Traders at Market, is developing cutting-edge science for faster and Uganda. S.Quinn (CIP) more efficient breeding of the crop varieties that consumers demand. Modern genetic science Gender inequality may hamper the adoption The G+ Product Profile Query Tool looks at the traits A recent product advancement meeting is overcoming the limitations of conventional of new varieties, so breeding programs must demanded by each customer segment. Is a specific highlighted the need to evaluate drudgery trait (such as, short cooking time) “required”, “nice to experienced by women processors, and the breeding for vegetatively propagated crops. Plant understand what makes an innovation appeal to women and men. RTB, the CGIAR Excellence in have”, or “to be avoided”? This tool helps to define the softening of the root during fermentation. breeders across the RTB program are developing Breeding Platform (EiB), and the CGIAR Gender traits that women and men need in a future variety, Breeding erect plants could harm women farmers, new genomic tools in collaboration with top Platform have jointly supported the Gender and and traits that may cause harm. who do most of the weeding, because more universities and research centers worldwide. Breeding Initiative GBI to develop the “G+ Tools” for weeds grow under erect plants. The G+ tools guide a multidisciplinary team as they “FP1 is not just using the most up to date genetic gender-responsive breeding. share knowledge and collaborate in advancing In Uganda, sweetpotato is mainly grown by science, but also helping to further advance The G+ Customer Profile Tool describes the customer breeding products. In a pilot with cassava in Nigeria, women, and most of it is eaten at home. The it,” says Luis Augusto Becerra, FP1 leader and segments (demographic groups) who will be in 2020, the tools helped the team to confirm the G+ tools validated the decision to target white- principal research scientist at CIAT. interested in a new variety. The customer segments importance of focusing on gari and fufu (staple food fleshed, quick cooking sweetpotato for home use, may be based on occupation and gender, for products) in the breeding product profiles, while in addition to OFSP varieties with their improved example, male smallholders, female smallholders, or prioritizing small-scale women processors as a key nutritive content, and reconfirmed the importance processors of both genders. customer segment. of disease resistance and high dry matter content. Plant samples in the gene bank, part of CIAT’s Genetic Resources program, at the institution’s headquarters in Colombia. N. Palmer (CIAT) 8 9 Also, in Uganda, the tools were used to identify the banana trait preferences of women and men. Some traits, A series of online workshops on the tools attracted such as ease of peeling, are important to many farmers, but especially to women. Many other attributes are plant breeders and social scientists from many important to both women and men: CGIAR centers. “The workshops were really useful for bringing a diverse group of plant breeders and social scientists together. The participants agreed that Agronomic Plant parts which can be used defining customer segments and product profiles attributes, e.g. for multiple purposes, e.g. banana should not only be about the plants, and crop traits, adaptability to leaves for use in food preparation but more about the people, and how they will poor soils or roots for medicines benefit from the breeding products,” said Vivian Polar from RTB. “These tools help to put gender and social inclusion at the heart of breeding.” Processing Size and shape attributes, e.g. These successful interactions during the online traits related to uniform finger size, straight fingers workshop with plant breeders and social scientists value addition for easier peeling, and compact demonstrate that the G+ tools can address gender bunches for easy transport and social inclusion when setting priorities for new crop varieties. Gender and social inclusion were systematically included in four real-world cases of plant breeding. DISTRIBUTION OF CASES AND IMPLEMENTATION Sweetpotato Uganda (CIP) RTB Banana Uganda (Alliance a b c d Bioversity - CIAT) Capacity Data Feedback: Gender is building and processing and process and formally planning tool application tool adaptation included Cassava Nigeria (IITA) EiB Beans Zimbabwe (Alliance Bioversity - CIAT) Women processors in Nigeria test cassava varieties made into prepared food. B. Teeken (IITA) 10 11 Getting the food characteristics right can help break “Using the tricot method in consumer trials gave through the barrier for adoption of improved root, us a practical, and replicable way to reconfirm tuber and banana varieties. RTB and partners have that breeders had some varieties in the pipeline further innovated with tricot to evaluate cooked food that would be highly acceptable to farmers and with consumers in markets and centralized locations consumers,” says Kwabena Acheremu, CSIR Savanna (such as schools) besides farmer households. Agricultural Research Institute. Consumer preferences for 21 advanced breeding materials of sweetpotato were tested in Ghana, Farmer participation is valuable in agricultural Choose the best and the worst out of and for six released varieties in Uganda. 1,433 research. Innovations tested under real farm participants each tasted three sweetpotato varieties conditions should ideally be primed for rapid and explained which ones they preferred and why. In upscaling. However, participatory research can be three: Tricot simplifies variety testing general, consumers liked the same varieties, whether expensive, and not always easy to replicate or to they were tasted at home or at a central location. quantify. Tricot may help to make it more feasible to with large numbers of farmers In Ghana, consumers preferred a white-fleshed, bring the perspectives of farmers, processors and high dry matter clone in the breeding pipeline consumers into plant breeding and other topics of (PG17136-N1), thus helping inform trait prioritisation agricultural research. The triadic comparison of technology options (tricot) crowdsources data from in the breeding program. Ugandans preferred The sweetpotato varieties were cooked in coded pots for the centralised Ejumula, an orange-fleshed, high dry matter landrace tasting. Each consumer was then given samples from 3 randomly selected individual farmers, consumers or others to evaluate and rank three technology followed by NASPOT 13, a variety released in 2013. pots. M. Nakitto (CIP) options. RTB is using this novel approach to test varieties in many farmers’ fields at once and has piloted tricot with cassava and sweetpotato breeding programs in Africa. Tricot is so versatile that RTB is trying it with consumers, who taste and judge Tricot is a robust method to rank three options with farmers, processors or consumers. different varieties of cooked cassava and sweetpotato. Tricot takes advantage of A farmer in Benue state (Nigeria) harvests her tricot trial. D. Owoade (IITA) The mother trials did not show significant user-friendly software to also capture variables such as location and climate. The differences in root dry matter, yet the baby trials RTB has used tricot to test new cassava varieties in showed that the landraces had significantly higher method is a valuable way to inform product profiles for breeding programs, select Uganda, Tanzania and Nigeria. The International dry matter. This highlights the need to test new varieties for release, promote new varieties for specific domains and identify traits Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the varieties under farmers’ conditions, and tricot National Root Crop Research Institute (NRCRI) did 320 that are likely to drive the adoption of promising varieties once released. allows for large numbers of farms to be included trials with farmers across Nigeria. Cassava varieties in the testing. Although the baby trials showed were evaluated with mother-baby trials, where a that farmers ranked the landraces higher for gari large on-station trial, or “mother”, is replicated by Citizen science crowdsources data directly from world conditions where each farmer ranks only and eba quality, the recently released improved various farmers, who each test some of the options, multiple users to improve the efficiency and three varieties. For each participating farmer, trial variety Game Changer was ranked well for all the in what are known as “baby” trials, using tricot. accountability of agricultural research, using digital data, location and local climate are then captured food products. Tricot trials are also being conducted IITA and NRCRI also evaluated processing with the technology to gather and process data. The triadic on the online ClimMob platform, which allows data in Uganda with the National Crops Resources household members who usually prepare these comparison of technology options (tricot) is a analysis. Consequently, tricot allows many more Institute (NaCRRI) and in Tanzania with the Tanzania foods. Participants grew local varieties as a check and novel citizen science method that facilitates farmer farmers to collaborate for varietal testing than was Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) and data is 15 improved ones and then processed the harvest experimenters to evaluate crop varieties under real previously possible. being analysed to help select the most farmer- into local foods (gari, eba and fufu). preferred varieties in these countries. 12 13 Genomics and bioinformatics to breed for high-yielding, biofortified sweetpotato Genomic tools and strategies developed for polyploid genomes such as those of sweetpotato, potato, banana and yam, are helping to tackle complex bottlenecks in sweetpotato breeding. This includes storage root bulking (for higher yields) and breaking the negative correlation between starch and beta-carotene (provitamin A) content for orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP). Low starch content in OFSP varieties is a major bottleneck to adoption in sub-Saharan Africa, where consumers like starchy sweetpotatoes. So, thanks to these new developments, breeders will be one step closer to breed high-yielding, biofortified OFSPs that are high in starch, suitable for wide adoption. Lessons learned from this work may be applicable to breeding for other polyploid crops. OFSP (orange-fleshed sweetpotato) varieties are concentrated on selecting high-yielding clones often percieved as “watery” and rejected by African with lots of beta-carotene (i.e. dark orange roots) consumers,who prefer a dry, starchy sweetpotato. by crossing parents with high beta-carotene with This is unfortunate, as OFSP is rich in beta-carotene, adapted, high starch content parents. However, which our bodies use to make vitamin A. For years, because of the negative genetic association, these Because of their genetic structure, dark orange sweetpotatoes like this one are high in vitamin A, but they also tend to not be starchy researchers have suspected that there was a negative efforts resulted in biofortified sweetpotato varieties enough. D. Gemenet (CIP) link between the genes involved in producing that were low in starch. starch and beta-carotene. Previous breeding efforts Decentralized vine multipliers preparing sweetpotato vines for sale. Geita Region, Tanzania. K. Ogero (CIP) 14 15 Recent work by RTB geneticists shows that the genes for starch and beta-carotene are more closely linked than had been suspected, which will make them more difficult to separate. By crossing an OFSP with a white-fleshed sweetpotato, and mapping the genes of their offspring, the RTB team demonstrated that the two genes involved in starch and in beta-carotene synthesis are located near each other on the sweetpotato genome. One of these genes, phytoene synthase (PSY), is involved in beta-carotene synthesis, while the other, sucrose synthase (SuSy), has to do with making starch. A third gene, called Orange, is on a different region of the genome, but it acts with the PSY and SuSY genes to inhibit starch production while making more beta-carotene (or vice versa). As a further twist, Orange and PSY act together to influence the production of either starch or beta-carotene, so that more of one means less of RTB’s sweetpotato genomics team is learning why orange-fleshed sweetpotatoes tend to have low starch. D. Gemenet (CIP) Dorcus Gemenet (molecular breeder and geneticist) and Jolien Swanckaert (sweetpotato breeder for East the other. and Central Africa) meet with sweetpotato seed multipliers in Rwanda, who explain that vitamin-rich sweetpotatoes also need to be high in starch. D. Gemenet (CIP) The negative association between the genes for left in the soil to continue growing. Sweetpotato roots Except for cassava, other root, tuber and banana Besides starch and starch and beta-carotene complicates breeding that keep growing even after the plant has reached crops are polyploid; they have more than two vitamin A, farmers also for these traits in a single sweetpotato variety. maturity, are said to have “continuous storage root sets of chromosomes. This complexity can “It has been frustrating at times, but now that we formation and bulking,” a trait that results in higher make the crops difficult to breed, so advanced want sweetpotatoes understand more about how these three genes yields and a longer harvest time. bioinformatic tools have been developed for that yield more work, and where they are located, this will help carrying out genomic analysis in the polyploid breeders to design genome-assisted breeding Recent RTB work with genome-wide association sweetpotato. “Mapping these candidate genes approaches to create OFSP with more starch, and (GWAS) identified 34 genes associated with continuous for sweetpotato will also be useful for other greater public acceptance,” says Dorcus Gemenet, storage root formation and bulking. Another seven polyploid crops,” explains Astére Barayenya a molecular geneticist previously at CIP in Kenya. were involved in the opposite trait of discontinuous at Makerere University, who collaborated root formation and bulking (the roots stop growing on the work with scientists at CIP, ILRI and Besides starch and vitamin A, farmers also want when the plant reaches maturity). Now that geneticists other partners. “We hope that our work with sweetpotatoes that yield more. When farmers harvest have mapped the locations of the genes involved in sweetpotato genomics will shed light on more sweetpotatoes to eat at home, they usually just root growth, it will be easier to select for them early on efficient ways to breed other vegetatively dig up a few roots at a time. The mature roots are in breeding efforts. propagated crops.” Decentralized vine multipliers preparing sweetpotato vines for sale. removed from the plant and the immature ones are Geita Region, Tanzania. K. Ogero (CIP) 16 17 Genomics sheds light on POSSIBLE ORIGIN OF GUINEA YAM Savannah-adapted Rainforest-adapted Sweetpotato’s wild relatives may help origins of Guinea yam the crop adapt to climate change Understanding the genetic diversity of yam is crucial for improving this D. abyssinica D. praehensilis At least some plants have genes for a certain kind of “memory.” A young plant exposed to a stress (like important crop. When researchers at IITA and partners analyzed the genome drought) may be better prepared for similar trouble later in life. Researchers in Peru withheld irrigation of the Guinea yam (Dioscorea rotundata) by sequencing 336 accessions of D. burkilliana D. togoensis water to induce a memory of drought in 59 accessions of the sweetpotato’s closest wild relatives. Later yam, including its wild relatives (D. abyssinica and D. praehensilis), they found on, some of these wild sweetpotato relatives responded to drought through different mechanisms, such that the domesticated Guinea yam is probably a hybrid of these two wild as producing more green leaf area, keeping their leaves alive for longer or keeping their leaves cool by yams. Although the wild relatives are unsuitable for agriculture, they are a D. rotundata opening their stomata (a bit like sweating) although this mechanism deserves further research. If wild rich source of genes not found in domesticated yams. Gene banks have few sweetpotato relatives can remember how to adapt to stress, breeders may be able to use these traits to accessions of wild yams, so collecting and conserving these species will be Cultivated Triploid D. rotundata Guinea yam help the cultivated sweetpotato resist drought and adapt to climate change. important for future breeding of Guinea yam. Taking a leaf’s temperature. Wild sweetpotatoes may remember how to Paternal origin stay cool. F. Guerrero-Zurita (CIP) D. cayenensis Maternal origin Diagram credit R. Terauchi/Iwate Biotechnology Research Center and University of Kyoto Dioscorea abyssinica Dioscorea praehensilis Future improvement of yams like these, seen here in a market in Benin, will depend on collecting and conserving their wild relatives. R. Terauchi (Iwate Biotechnology Research Center and University of Kyoto) Older plants have learned to adapt to drought. F. Guerrero-Zurita (CIP) An artificial drought induces a kind of memory in young relatives of the R. Terauchi (Iwate Biotechnology Research Center and University of Kyoto) sweetpotato. F. Guerrero-Zurita (CIP) 18 19 Conserving crop diversity on farm RTB scientists are developing baselines of crop diversity and providing support to farmers who conserve vulnerable landraces. Baselines (of which varieties are grown and where) are necessary to identify vulnerable varieties and track their status. The baselines use citizen science to monitor crop diversity in farmers’ fields from gene to landscape. RTB scientists are standardizing procedures for supporting in situ conservation, including payment to farmers who conserve crop diversity, and strengthening farmers’ organizations. Ex situ (“off-site”) conservation keeps varieties its distribution, and use. The International Potato in gene banks or in seed vaults. In situ (“on site”) Center (CIP) and the Alliance of Bioversity and conservation maintains crop diversity in farmers’ CIAT (the Alliance) have established guidelines on fields. Farmers still conserve most of the world’s how to conduct the baselines. crop diversity, as they have done for millennia. Plant breeders rely on this genetic material to improve Since 2013, scientists at CIP have developed tomorrow’s crops to meet stresses like climate baselines for potato landraces in several hotspots, change and invasive pests and diseases. including the Yauli-Paucara microcenter in Huancavelica, Apurímac and Tayabamba, Peru and In situ conservation relies on the support of on the Bolivian Altiplano. NGOs, universities and robust baselines, which include data on which regional governments gathered large datasets on varieties are grown and where. Like a census, crop varieties, which are gradually being released the baseline includes local names and a genetic as baselines. On 19 July 2021, the Yauli-Paucara fingerprint for the varieties, showing which ones baseline will be officially launched by the Regional are common and which are endangered. Farmers’ Government of Huancavelica. These baselines will Paulina Matamoros Escobar, a custodian farmer from Chopcca crop diversity is dynamic, being lost and added allow researchers to return to the same hotspots in (Huancavelica, Peru), showing the landrace Morado Gaspar. S. De Haan (CIP) to over time. Baselines document this diversity, the future to monitor change. Mix of potato landraces from Huancavelica, Peru. S. De Haan (CIP) 20 21 In the Pasco region in central Peru, CIP, AGUAPAN These interventions hosted an exchange between “The next step is to scale these conservation (Association of Guardians of the Native Potato) researchers and Yanesha and Quechua leaders in approaches and establish an Andean-Amazonian and its NGO partner Grupo Yanapai have been 2019 during the AGUAPAN annual assembly to network of in situ observatories, and to apply citizen conducting a baseline for potato with Quechua- discuss farmers’ rights, place-based governance of science to monitor diversity more often and with speaking farm communities. Meanwhile, the Alliance genetic resources and the importance of baselining increased agility.” says Stef de Haan of CIP. These is completing a baseline with cassava in Yanesha to protect biocultural heritage. efforts will help to establish an online decision communities in the Amazon region of Pasco. In both support system for documenting the conservation experiences, crops of global importance (cassava and Ex situ and in situ conservation approaches status of landraces in the field and in the hands potato) are being managed in their center of origin are complementary, in part because the of farmers. These tools can then be applied to by indigenous peoples. immense diversity in farmers’ fields is practically other crops in diversity hotspots identified by RTB unmanageable in gene banks. Dynamic, in situ researchers, and in the centers of origin for cereals, CIP and the Alliance have experimented with conservation is resilient against changing climates, legumes, vegetables and other crops. novel models for benefit sharing and payment for conserving traits that are strongly farmer-preferred, environmental services in Peru. The CGIAR has a role as well as adaptive traits. For example, frost resistant to play to develop models of benefit sharing, because landraces like Puqya and Manua are now being A student from Daniel Alcides Carrión National University (Peru) evaluating all its gene banks are in centers of crop origin. planted over wider areas with increased probability leaf shapes of cassava. E. Delaquis (the Alliance) AGUAPAN is an initiative supported by the private of frosts like Huancavelica. sector in 100 rural communities in seven regions. Young farmers in Chopcca selecting seed for a biodiversity seed fair (Huancavelica, Peru). S. De Haan (CIP) The initiative provides direct monetary benefits to households, called “potato landrace custodians.” AGUAPAN is governed by farmers themselves, conserving among them at least 1000 landraces. Exchange between Quechua and Yanesha farmers. S. De Haan (CIP) Tubers of the frost-tolerant landraces. C. Bastos (CIP) Daniel Alcides Carrión National University student helps conduct a baseline in a varietal garden in a Yanesha community, Peru. E. Delaquis (the Alliance) 22 23 Breaking the adoption ceiling of modern varieties In Africa, the adoption of modern varieties of roots, tubers and bananas rarely ADAPTED surpasses 40% of their potential, a major reason is insufficient attention paid to the PRODUCTIVE crop traits that farmers and other consumers want. Understanding these preferences, and addressing them through breeding programs, can help break through the VARIETIES AND 40% ceiling and contribute to improved smallholder livelihoods. Fortunately, new BREAKING THROUGH THE breeding tools make this more feasible; breeding programs are seriously committed QUALITY SEED 40% to capturing real demand and change is underway with the RTBfoods project and in RTB breeding programs. ADOPTION CEILING Flagship Project 2 FOR MAJOR STAPLE CROPS IN AFRICA A team of RTB scientists ADOPTION AND VARIETAL AGE MODERN recently reviewed VARIETIES IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA 2010 is about breeding better crop varieties and adoption studies of modern varieties of RTB crops. improving seed systems. FP2 supports RTB’s This revealed that the average adoption rates in 21 sub-Saharan Africa are below 40% of the crops’ plant breeding teams to create the varieties Faba bean Potato area, as though there were an invisible ceiling. One that are demanded by male and female farmers major reason for the invisible ceiling has been the 19 and consumers. FP2 also strengthens the seed insufficient attention by breeding programs to Yam understanding how consumer preferences shape Sorghum Barley systems so that farmers receive quality seed 17 demand and drive adoption. This is especially Other legume Rice of new varieties. “We make sure that farmers important in sub-Saharan Africa where farm are partners in plant breeding. Now breeders households are consumers as well as producers, and 15 Pearl millet Soybean Cassava are aware of the specific demands of different because men and women play different roles on the Bean stakeholder groups for the root, tuber and farm and may differ in their preferences. Fortunately, 13 Maize (ESA) Maize (WCA) work is underway with RTB breeding teams to Cowpean Wheat banana varieties of the future,” says Maria incorporate these preferences in new varieties Andrade, FP2 leader, plant breeder at CIP, and (product profiles) which gives us every reason to 11 Sweetpotato Groundnut World Food Prize winner. hope that we can break through the invisible ceiling Banana (see story in this annual report on RTBfoods). 9 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Sharifa Juma digs terraces to stop soil erosion. G. Smith (CIAT) Adoption (%) Source: Walker and Alwang 2015 24 25 Age (years) More than 44 new banana (and including plantain) for making gari (a food in high demand). Other local In Côte d’Ivoire, consumers generally prefer varieties were released in East Africa by 2016. But varieties meet consumers’ preferences for specific guinea yams (Dioscorea rotundata), because they the area planted in these varieties is only about 6% cassava products such as a snowy white color for make a good pounded yam. Nevertheless, many of the total, even though many modern varieties are making abacha, a grated cassava product farmers have adopted land races of water yam (D. high-yielding and disease-resistant. Studies showed alata), introduced from other regions as a cheaper that adoption was low mainly because new varieties In the case of sweetpotato in Uganda, adoption alternative. Again, a key factor in adoption was usually failed to meet consumer demands for a specific surveys did not examine the importance of quality a quality preference, and the varieties that were product type (e.g., for cooking, or as fresh fruit). traits. However, CIP plant breeder Robert Mwanga, adopted made an acceptable pounded yam, unlike who also co-authored the study, explained that many water yam varieties. In Nigeria, cassava fared better, as modern varieties “during participatory plant breeding, we found out were adopted on 46% of the crop’s area. Those that many of the attributes that farmers look for were Potato in Kenya has shown particularly rapid varietal varieties tended to be high-yielding, which was consumer traits, including the attractive color of change. In recent years, the Shangi variety, likely a important as cassava became a commercial crop roots, ‘sweet’ roots when cooked, and mealy and non- farmer selection from CIP breeding lines, has been in the late twentieth century. However, it was also fibrous texture. So, targeting these traits is important adopted by most farmers. Sophie Sinelle, of Syngenta clear that widely adopted varieties were also good if farmers are going to adopt our varieties.” Foundation, co-author of the RTB review paper, explains: “in Kenya we found that farmers do like high-yielding potato varieties, but adoption is driven by a combination of consumer and market demand preferences which you can find in Shangi variety, earliness to be the first on the market, and culinary qualities such as taste and quick cooking time.” As Graham Thiele, lead author and director of RTB, Farmers Gladys Nkirote (left) and Doris Kagendo (right) proudly holding concludes, “a central finding is that despite some harvested tubers of Shangi variety in Kamurampa village, Meru County, recent work there is still a dearth of information Kenya. Doris bought 50 kg from decentralized seed multiplier Cecinta to capture and address gender differentiated Nduru. R. Jumah. (Farm Input Promotions Africa Ltd.) consumer preferences and procedures to ensure that this information can be addressed effectively A new project, RTBfoods, an integral part of RTB, by breeding programs.” is working to break through the adoption ceiling. RTBfoods does improved surveys of consumer demand for roots, tubers and bananas. Then SHANGI POTATO RTBfoods translates consumer criteria (like good VARIETY taste and stretchability of pounded yam) into KENYA properties that breeders can recognize, such as High-yielding starch and fiber content. “While there may not be a Good taste gene for tasty or stretchy, RTBfoods is researching the interaction of genes and the environment to Quick cooking time help breeders produce these traits in varieties that consumers will value,” says Dominique Dufour, who A snowy white cassava is best for making abacha. Charity Ofozie Ugo processing abacha in Ohokobe Afaraukwu in Abia State Nigeria. T. Madu (NRCRI) leads RTBfoods at CIRAD. Woman showing Shangi potato variety. Wakulima market. Nairobi, Kenya. A. Balaguer (CIP) 26 27 Innovations in early generation seed show promise to get new varieties into farmers’ hands faster Sustainable early generation seed Early generation seed (EGS) is the starter material for producing commercial seed of business analysis tool (SEGSBAT) new varieties. EGS is the key to a healthy, economically viable seed system. RTB has helps to analyze financial supported the development of new technologies that make it possible to produce performance of early generation EGS faster, making improved varieties available sooner, as shown by experiences seed (EGS) businesses run by from cassava in Nigeria, sweetpotato and potato in East Africa, and yam in West specialized seed producers, such Africa. Healthy and productive seed for farmers starts with top quality EGS. as NARS and private companies. The tool includes coverage of in-vitro, breeder, and foundation Commercial seed is produced from early In Nigeria, semi-autotrophic hydroponics (SAH), seed classes. The supply of EGS is generation seed (EGS), where RTB is giving a lot used in Latin America to multiply potato seed, often a bottleneck to improving of attention. RTB is supporting systems that get was adapted by IITA and the Nigerian National top quality EGS of new varieties into the hands Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) for formal seed systems. of commercial seed producers faster and more cassava. By quickly multiplying cassava cuttings efficiently, thus building value chains that improve in small trays, more seed can be produced, the yields and the livelihoods of many root, tuber and cutting costs from a dollar for breeder seed to banana farmers. ten cents for SAH plantlets. Additionally, SAH can achieve a 50-fold multiplication in the quantity RTB has supported the development of rapid of EGS in 15 weeks compared to 30 weeks for the multiplication techniques (RMTs) that are previous method. accelerating the multiplication and bulking up of EGS to provide disease-free starter material using molecular detection protocols. This is important, Stokman Rozen a private company in Kenya training private-sector and because once a variety is selected for release, and national program technicians from Kenya, Madagascar and Uganda to farmers want it, it can take years to multiply it in the produce apical cuttings. Apical cuttings being multiplied are Unica, a CIP field and make seed available. variety. M. Parker (CIP) 28 29 are producing commercial seed tubers with another business plans which we have supported with public RMT, the adaptive yam minisett technique. See the and private sector organizations in 11 countries in box on yam minisett, opposite. sub-Saharan Africa.” Getting more for less with seed yam Margaret McEwan, Senior Scientist and Seed Systems These experiences show that RMTs can bring Specialist at CIP explains. “We have been able to learn healthy seed of improved varieties to farmers across crops – for example hydroponics in potato sooner. Lowering the cost of EGS also lowers has been adapted to sandponics in sweetpotato. costs throughout the system. Quality is easier to Agricultural economists have determined the cost manage and certify at early stages, so certification of production for different technologies using should focus on EGS, rather than on farm level At harvest, West African yam farmers keep up the Sustainable Early Generation Seed Business certification. RMTs need to be used with the right Analysis Tool (SEGBAT), from the seed systems marketing and pricing strategies. With the proper to 30% of their tubers to plant the next season, toolkit. Understanding the unit cost of production incentives, private companies can produce EGS for so many yams that could be sold or eaten must and developing marketing strategies are critical root, tuber and banana crops, which will lead to IITA researchers successfully adapted SAH from Latin America for rapid components of the sustainable sweetpotato EGS greater varietal adoption. be saved as seed. A seed tuber can weigh over multiplication of top quality cassava seed in Nigeria. IITA SAH technicians displaying healthy SAH cassava plantlets. H. Nitturkar a kilogram, but it can be cut into minisetts: 30 to 90 gram pieces. If planted three weeks earlier In East Africa, the International Potato Center (CIP) and partners developed and introduced new RMTs than usual (with irrigation if necessary), minisetts for potato to private companies and the public can produce seed yams at a seed-to-crop ratio sector including: sand hydroponics, aeroponics Freshly cut minisetts spread out to dry after being treated with fungicide and insecticide to prevent pest attacks. B. Aighewi (IITA) (growing roots in the air), and rooted apical cuttings of 1:30, instead of 1:3. A hectare of yam planted (shoots cut from plantlets are transplanted into with 30-gram minisetts yields almost as much as plugs). In Kenya, private seed companies like Kisima Farm and Stokman Rozen are using rooted apical one planted with 90-gram pieces, while saving cuttings to produce commercial seed quickly, on an additional ton or two of seed. However, a large scale, while training other companies to produce the cuttings. farmers were wary of the smaller sizes. The most skeptical farmers were invited to participate in IITA’s Yam Improvement for Income and Food Security in West Africa (YIIFSWA) project has demonstrations, where the minisetts (treated with developed new techniques for producing EGS. chemicals to prevent pests) produced good seed The Temporary Immersion Bioreactor and vivipak systems are being shared with national agricultural yam. The expected productivity increase for the research centers to produce clean starter material adapted yam minisett technique is about 25%, for breeder and foundation seed, while private seed companies in Nigeria and Ghana are producing and it should be promoted more widely. foundation seed with aeroponics and hydroponics and single node vine cuttings. This EGS is then being made available to seed yam growers WHO 35 tubers from one apical cutting. Shangi variety, Kenya. M. Parker (CIP) Less is more. These yam minisetts are small pieces of seed tuber that are high-yielding, and they save seed that can be sold as food. B. Aighewi (IITA) 30 31 Unfortunately, informal channels work better at local scales. Wholly unregulated, large-scale, long-distance seed trade, including cross-border movements of seed, can contribute to the spread of pests and Adapting regulatory seed diseases, as experienced with cassava mosaic disease (CMD) in Vietnam. Seed systems at a local scale may frameworks to RTB crops: unlocking not be able to keep pace with government strategies to expand production while managing new threats such as climate change and emerging pests. a major bottleneck to broader impact VPC seed quality assurance systems need to strike a careful, but sensible balance between permissive Seed systems for vegetatively propagated crops (VPCs) are often governed by rules at a local level and stricter regulations at the national and regional levels. At present, however, laws designed with cereal crops in mind. As a result, rules and guidelines may few countries have found this balance, with most be less suited for VPC seed, which is bulky, perishable, and prone to spreading still promoting strict and centralized quality control regulations that no one can comply with. diseases. VPCs need seed regulations designed specifically for vegetative planting material. For example, VPC seed regulations should emphasize quality testing and The alternative is a more permissive regulatory regime with decentralized production systems, certification for early generation seed (EGS) more intensively than for lower seed grassroots capacity development, market classes. Targeted, evidence-based policy recommendations are helping to improve surveillance, and quality assurance systems that Cassava breeder seed of CBSD-resistant variety Mkuranga1 being multiplied in a screenhouse of the Tanzania Agricultural Research Organization (TARI), at Kibaha near to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. J. Legg (IITA) regulatory frameworks for VPCs in Tanzania, Rwanda, Nigeria, and Vietnam. integrate internal quality assurance (managed by seed producers) with external quality assurance (managed by government regulators). from TOSCI. By 2020 new regulations for potato, tolerant varieties. Regulations also allow QDS. These sweetpotato and cassava covered all seed classes, standards were approved by the Rwanda Standards In many countries, seed quality assurance systems, Results from the RTB-PIM study indicate that Tanzania may have found the balance between over- from breeder to quality declared seed (QDS), a seed Board (RSB) in 2018. Rwanda was able to act quickly, including testing and certification protocols, are across all three countries, VPC seed quality regulation and none. New seed regulations were class one step below certified seed. TARI, TOSCI, within a year, because of the example set by the based on technical experience with cereal and assurance systems are not only too stringent introduced as part of a larger upgrade of the cassava MEDA and IITA formed a cassava advocacy team successful model piloted in Tanzania. pulse crops. Vegetatively propagated crops (VPCs) but are also difficult to implement and monitor. system. Farmers were not used to buying cassava that encourages district councils to promote the have distinct types of planting materials, which This can be prohibitively costly for many seed seed, which they sourced from local farms. From production and processing of commercial cassava. Where there are few threats from plant health means that this experience is often unsuitable to producers, leading to the continued movement of 2013, IITA and Mennonite Economic Development The team trains farmers to make more money from problems, a more permissive, seed regulation the design and implementation of VPC-specific seed through informal channels. These channels— Associates (MEDA) worked closely with the Tanzania cassava, by using disease-free, certified seed. policy makes sense. However, major pest and seed quality assurance systems. To ensure that often vibrant, bustling local market exchanges— Official Seed Certification Institute (TOSCI) and disease threats can be managed in part by quality VPC seed production and distribution are rely on trust among seed producers, traders, and the Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) The Tanzania experience was valuable for Rwanda, enforcing seed quality control. International subject to appropriate rules and regulations, RTB farmers that are developed through long-term to develop a network of seed inspectors and where viral diseases had severely impaired cassava borders are a critical point to apply strict quality teamed up with the CGIAR Research Program on relationships. As such, there are good reasons entrepreneurs as part of a BMGF-funded project, production. In 2017 the IITA-led Cassava Brown control to minimize the risk of long-distance Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM) to conduct to maintain and strengthen informal channels, ‘Building an Economically-Sustainable Seed System Streak Disease (CBSD) Control Project supported spread of pests and diseases of VPC seed. More a qualitative analysis of seed policy and practice, while also strengthening the formal system in an The Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT is working with the Agricultural Genetics Institute in Vietnam in maintaining, evaluating, multiplying, and in Tanzania for Cassava’ (BEST Cassava). BEST Cassava the development of cassava seed standards, with an permissive and cost-effective seed policies remove focusing on cassava in Nigeria, potato in Kenya and integrative and supportive manner. distributing CIAT CMD Resistant and Elite Clones under the cassava program. set up the Cassava Seed Growers’ Association, to emphasis on inspections to guarantee that cassava a key bottleneck to broader adoption of quality potato and cassava in Vietnam. T. Chinh (Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT) help seed entrepreneurs coordinate inspections seed is disease-free, with a preference for disease- seed of improved varieties. 32 33 Better pest management by understanding gender differences RESILIENT ROOTS, TUBERS Interdisciplinary teams of scientists across the CGIAR’s Roots, Tubers and Bananas AND BANANAS Program (RTB) studied how women and men perceive and manage pests and diseases differently and how this matters in the adoption of crop protection technologies. Without considering gender, innovations will not reach all farmers. Flagship Project 3 A gender perspective can enhance the design and scaling of pest and disease management technologies. develops and supports the strategies and tools needed to keep root, tuber and banana crops Understanding gender can help design better pest Even when men and women grow different crops, healthy and productive. Pests and diseases management programs. Women farmers often have they can interact in unforeseen ways. For example, continue to evolve and to emerge in new countries, their way of seeing and managing pests, that may in the East African highlands, men usually manage such as banana bunchy top disease across Africa differ from those of men. the banana crop, while women oversee the climbing beans that grow up the banana plants. If only and cassava mosaic disease in southeast Asia. “FP3 Men may have attended more years of formal men learn to control banana Xanthomonas wilt by is improving its user-friendly apps that farmers and schooling, where they learned to read and speak removing the diseased stems, they may uproot extensionists can use with an inexpensive smart the national language. Training for women may the women’s bean plants. Therefore, women need require a female facilitator who can create a phone. We are also combining satellite images with to be involved in banana disease management comfortable environment for women, by speaking training, even if they are not directly in charge of drone photography to create digital technology in the local language. banana production. Based on these findings, the that smallholders can use to manage crop pests teams working on banana disease management are and diseases,” explains James Legg, FP3 leader, and Women work longer hours than men, so there is a developing new strategies to ensure that women need to avoid new technologies that demand more scientist at IITA. receive training, even if they are not directly in labor. Labor-saving techniques, like pheromone charge of banana production. traps, can be used. Female banana-farmers, like this widow in Isingiro district, Uganda, have Harvesting banana. (CIP) their own needs, assets and knowledge. A.Rietveld (Alliance) 34 35 Pests can even lend themselves to different management strategies, according to the gendered division of labor. For example, in southern Ethiopia, men control millipede pests in sweetpotato by planting early, because men do the plowing, while women hand kill the pests while inspecting the fields. In Southeast Asia, where cassava is a cash crop of the poor, widows have less money than other farmers and are less inclined to invest in clean seed to manage disease. Some programs are now offering specific support to female-headed households to understand their attitudes towards clean seed, and to help them overcome constraints so they can use it. INTERDISCIPLINARY TEAMS OF SCIENTISTS across the CGIAR’s Roots, Tubers and Bananas Program (RTB) studied how women and men perceive and manage pests and diseases differently and how this matter in the adoption of crop protection technologies. Pheromone trap for potato tuber moth in a potato field in Kabale, Uganda. J. Okonya (CIP) “RTB research and interventions have shown access to cash, information, labor and land. They that technologies for crop protection are widely may grow different crops and have different tasks available, but appropriate approaches to introduce on farm. These and other differences give women these technologies are missing. Understanding farmers their own perspective on crop pests and gender norms and relations is a first step to increase diseases. This understanding is helping to develop adoption of the technologies,” explains Nozomi and share technologies that respond to the needs Kawarazuka, RTB gender cluster leader. of female and male growers of root, tuber and banana crops, so that everyone can improve their By looking deeply at the world of men and women, pest and disease management. we learn to see the people behind the crops, with their own needs, assets and knowledge. Men Training trainers in OFSP production, multiplication, pests and women farm differently. They have different and diseases management in Kasungu. E. Abidin (CIP) 36 37 Potato Center (CIP) and the International Committee Super Typhoon Ompong made landfall in Luzon on “The sweetpotato by nature stands up to stormy of the Red Cross (ICRC) helped 7,500 farmers in 15 September 2018, and wreaked havoc across the weather, but climate change is also making drought Manica Province, Mozambique, by distributing 40 northern Philippines. Eighty-two people were killed, more common. RTB is also breeding sweetpotato tons of orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP) planting and 800,000 households were affected. There was varieties that are drought-tolerant and also tolerant material. The high-yielding, CIP-bred OFSP varieties at least $493 million damage, just to agriculture. to salinity. This helps to make the sweetpotato distributed by the Red Cross are rich in vitamin A, Even after taking a beating from the typhoon, most doubly able to meet the challenges of a changing which is vital for healthy child development. Now sweetpotato plants were still green and healthy; climate,” says Maria Andrade, of CIP. USAID is helping CIP to rebuild the seed system in 97% of rice farmers reported losses, but only 14% of Weathering the storm with Sofala, benefitting 40,000 households. sweetpotato growers. Rice farmers lost on average 51% of their standing crop, but sweetpotato Sweetpotatoes grow close to the ground, so they largely escape growers saved all but 8% of their crop. Other root storm damage, and can soon produce food for isolated, rural families. sweetpotatoes and other root crops crops, like cassava, taro and yam, also fared better N. Abdul (CIP) CIP than cereal crops. and ICRC HELPED 7,500 As a ground hugging crop that produces food underground, the sweetpotato FARMERS is ideal for resisting the ravages of tropical storms. And thanks to its short cycle, in Manica Province, planting the sweetpotato after extreme weather events has helped farmers Mozambique by distributing bounce back from shocks like Cyclone Idai in Mozambique and Typhoon Ompong 40 TONS in the Philippines. Sweetpotato varieties are also being bred and released for salt- of orange-fleshed and drought-resistance, making the sweetpotato an important crop for adapting to sweetpotato (OFSP) climate change. planting material Extreme weather events (such as typhoons) are Crops like the sweetpotato, whose product grows increasingly frequent. For example, Buzi district in underground, resist strong winds and heavy rain central Mozambique was struck by Cyclone Idai in better than do above-ground crops and trees. The flattened by cyclone Chalane on December 30, 2020. March 2019, only to be devastated in December 2020 ground hugging sweetpotato vines largely escape Houses Sweetpotatoes help families recover from such disasters. T. Issa (SADE) by Cyclone Chalane. Around the world, storms are damage from typhoons and cyclones, allowing becoming more destructive, likely because of climate rural households to still harvest some food to eat management and fertilizer than many crops, which change. Typhoons and cyclones damage crops in and to sell. And because the sweetpotato matures also makes it an ideal investment after a disaster, the coastal tropics, threatening food security as a quickly, resource-poor families can plant it after a when time and money are often scarce. smaller harvest means there is less to eat and less to storm and start to produce food soon. Two months sell. Washed out roads and bridges make it harder after planting, families can begin to eat the plant’s Cyclone Idai, which hit southern Africa on 15 March to get to market to sell the produce that is available, nutritious leaves, and after three months, the 2019, left more than 1,000 people dead and caused Farmers, local agriculture authorities and the CIP team inspect this so farmers lose the income they need to buy school high-calorie, vitamin-rich sweetpotato roots are $2 billion worth of damages, including widespread sweetpotato multiplication plot in Buzi, Mozambique. Just a week after supplies, medicines and certain foods. ready to harvest. The sweetpotato requires less crop loss. A collaboration between the International Cyclone Chilane, the crop is recovering quickly. E. Agostinho and A. Naico (CIP) 38 39 Global cooperation fights a potentially devastating banana pandemic A potentially devastating banana disease (Fusarium TR4) is now spreading across the tropics, threatening the livelihoods of smallholders and large commercial farmers alike, especially growers of Cavendish, the main variety of dessert banana. There have been efforts to understand and control this devastating disease, but a real solution will require international cooperation across many disciplines. In 2020, RTB supported a virtual symposium and a masterclass to share information on how TR4 spreads, how to diagnose it and insights into future control methods. A virulent strain of a soil-dwelling fungus known Since 2014, the disease has expanded quickly across as Fusarium Tropical Race 4 (TR4) is threatening the greater Mekong Delta, especially in Laos and the world supply of bananas, and the livelihood of Vietnam. TR4 also emerged in 2013 in Mozambique, millions of farmers. TR4 kills the banana plant by and was more recently identified on Mayotte, an attacking its vascular system. Disease management island in the Indian Ocean. In August 2019, TR4 was is complex, as the fungus persists for decades reported in organic banana plants in La Guajira, in infected fields and there are no fully effective Colombia, while in April 2021, TR4 was spotted in strategies for managing TR4. northern Peru, also on an organic banana farm. So far, the Colombians have managed to contain TR4 in the The pathogen spreads easily through spores, department of La Guajira, although the pathogen has in contaminated soil and planting material. The spread from two farms to ten. The Cavendish variety, spores even cling to farmers’ shoes and farming which dominates the market for dessert bananas, equipment. First identified in Taiwan in 1967, TR4 is widely grown as a monocrop, facilitating the spread to other Asian countries by the early 2000s. spread of the disease. However, TR4 is also starting to gradually spread into smaller-scale, more diversified Sampling a diseased banana in northern Mozambique. Surveys banana farming systems in various Asian countries. like this help to map the spread of TR4. G. Blomme (Alliance) TR4 kills the banana plant by attacking its vascular system. M. Dita (Alliance) 40 41 The symposium discussed biocontrol approaches, The key option to mitigate the impact of including use of the beneficial fungus Trichoderma Fusarium is through the use of resistant or highly to control TR4. The substrate left over after tolerant germplasm. Some promising genetic harvesting cultivated mushrooms could be material is currently available and is being used, applied to the soil to stop the spread of the and many other banana types are being screened disease. Groundcover root flavonoids and phenolic for resistance. Therefore, conventional breeding, acids may also help stop the fungus in the soil. in addition to GM and CRISPR, will most likely Researchers in China have identified beneficial widen the pool of resistant germplasm in the bacteria closely related to the well-known Bt. Two years to come. of these Bacillus bacteria are now being screened to find the best strains for biological control of TR4. “The rapid spread of TR4 threatens food security Colombian scientists are testing ammonia-based across the tropics on three continents. The soil disinfectants to eliminate the pathogen from banana also creates lots of jobs, including many locations where infected mats had been removed. for women and youth, from farming to packing houses to retail sales. It’s heartening that the world’s experts have been able to start working FUSARIUM TROPICAL RACE 4 (TR4) together to develop the technologies that will solve this crisis,” says James Legg, leader of FP3, which helped to sponsor the symposium. Is a virulent strain of a soil-dwelling fungus. TR4 kills the banana plant by attacking its vascular system. Disease management is complex, as the fungus persists for decades in infected fields Internal symptoms of Fusarium wilt, TR4 affecting Cavendish bananas in Colombia. M. Dita (Alliance) and there are no fully effective strategies for The Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT and the During the Masterclass, banana researchers from managing TR4. International Institute of Tropical Agriculture across the globe presented current knowledge on (IITA), with the support of RTB, held a two-day Fusarium spread, epidemiology and control. At the virtual mini-symposium which presented a state- virtual symposium, novel research insights were of-the-art overview of research on this disease. communicated. For example, how to detect viable In addition, a virtual Masterclass for anyone Fusarium inoculum from environmental samples, or interested in the pathogen, diagnostic tools, insights in the survival and treatment of Fusarium control strategies and the impact was organized in water. In addition, weevils and nematodes were by The Alliance and IITA in the framework of reported to contribute to disease spread and ProMusa and RTB. infection intensity. The symposium also presented new tools to detect and map TR4. Female banana exporter in Uganda. (CIP) Leaves turn yellow on a diseased plantain plant. A Fusarium Race 1 affected Bluggoe plant in northern Mozambique. G. Blomme (Alliance) 42 43 Alliance for Banana Bunchy Top Disease Control in Africa The banana bunchy top virus (BBTV) The banana bunchy top disease (BBTD), caused has now spread to 16 African countries, by the banana bunchy top virus (BBTV), is spreading across sub-Saharan Africa. Since the disease was threatening the livelihoods of 70 million first reported in the Democratic Republic of the banana farmers and imperiling the Congo (DRC) in the 1960s, the virus has invaded diversity of the varieties they grow. RTB 16 countries, and it endangers a crop grown by 70 million households. The virus spreads through has coordinated the Alliance for Banana planting material and by an insect vector, the Bunchy Top Disease (BBTD) Control in banana aphid. This disease stunts the plant which Africa. This unique initiative aligned stops producing fruit. Sometimes all the fruit is lost in a single season. When BBTD strikes, the international, multi-stakeholder teams recommendation to farmers is to eliminate infected to combat this dangerous disease. The banana mats and replace them with healthy suckers. BBTD Alliance has fostered cutting- However, smallholders hesitate to destroy large parts of their banana gardens, especially if some of their edge research for development (R4D), plants are still bearing bunches. established practical solutions so farmers Where BBTD strikes, it increases the demand for can once again produce bananas for clean planting material while making it more difficult food and income. The Alliance has also to find seed of local landraces. This threatens the helped to build capacity among national diversity of well-adapted landraces. programs in the detection, surveillance, There is a strong premium for collective action as and control of BBTD. farmers need to act together to prevent disease from spreading to their community and to prevent reinfection after replanting. Collective action Banana mat with advanced symptoms of BBTD. The banana aphid can spread the virus from this unproductive mat to healthy ones. As farmers also facilitates training, allows for peer support, take seed suckers from this plant, they unwittingly spread the disease to information exchange and fidelity to control options. new fields. L. Kumar (IITA) Bunchy Top Alliance research team checking for banana aphids. L. Kumar (IITA) 44 45 Because BBTD can easily cross borders, management and men farmers benefited equitably from the FFS. RTB developed an online training course on disease requires international cooperation. In 2011, RTB Farmers learned to multiply clean seed and they were recognition and eradication. set up an interdisciplinary, multi-national Alliance linked to tissue culture and other sources of healthy THERE IS A STRONG for Banana Bunchy Top Disease Control in Africa, planting material. An experiment with farmers Studies examined the gendered access to premium for collective coordinated by IITA, the Alliance of Bioversity in seven countries showed that BBTD could be information and resources in Benin, Cameroon action as farmers need to International and CIAT, with CIRAD and national managed with timely rogueing to produce healthy and Nigeria. For example, in Cameroon, men had a research partners (Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, planting material. greater say in decision-making over farm resources act together to prevent disease from spreading Congo Brazzaville, DRC, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, and and information services, even when women were Zambia), the FAO and the Inter-African Phytosanitary The early detection of BBTD when it spread to Togo, more involved in actual seed and site selection. Men to their community and Council (IAPSC), and research partners from Australia and the eradication of the virus there, is the first also had greater access to clean seed than women. to prevent reinfection (University of Queensland), Asia, Europe, India, Kenya, case for halting the spread of an invasive virus in “Getting healthy planting material is crucial for STOP BUNCHY TOP after replanting UK (University of Cambridge) and the USA. sub-Saharan Africa. Demonstrations and hands-on managing bunchy top, and if women cannot access training helped Togolese partners to eliminate the clean seed, they are at a disadvantage. Projects The BBTD Alliance developed new knowledge and disease. Farmers, extension workers, policymakers, across Africa will have to ensure that women have Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Services (NAQS) inspectors reviewing management technologies, while building capacity, and donors saw firsthand how BBTD was managed equal access to healthy planting material,” says Lava the BBTV surveillance app to find and report diseased plants to control and supporting national partners and farmer in Benin, Cameroon, Malawi, and Nigeria. In 2020, Kumar of IITA. the spread of the disease. L. Kumar (IITA) organizations. Ten graduate students conducted research on disease management and epidemiology, diagnostic tools, disease-resistant banana varieties, and remote surveillance with satellite and drone images. Seed entrepreneurs, extension agents, farmers and plant health inspectors were trained to diagnose the disease in the field, rogue infected plants and produce clean planting material. Trainees learned to recognize the early symptoms of BBTD, and to understand that the virus can only be stopped by eliminating diseased plants. The countries joined to contain the spread of BBTD across the continent, thanks in part to annual workshops for sharing knowledge and technologies. The BBTD Alliance taught disease management at pilot sites, using farmer field schools (FFS) to collaborate with farmer experimenters. Consistent removal of diseased mats (roguing) based on early farmer-detectable disease symptoms was found effective in maintaining BBTD levels below 1% in Malawi, Benin and Burundi trials, and supporting the production of low-risk seed for expansion. Gender Bunchy top symptoms are subtle (green leaves with yellow margins and shortened petioles). These fresh leaves may look healthy, but they are too small and analysis shed light on power dynamics within the too close together. This mat may yield nothing and needs to be eliminated and replaced with healthy plants. L. Kumar (IITA) households and communities to ensure that women Getting ready for surveillance and eradication of BBTV infected banana plants. L. Kumar (IITA) 46 47 Identification of banana diseases and their spread using remote sensing and smartphones Using the Tumaini AI-powered smartphone app to ground-truth aerial diagnoses. B. Omondi Aman (Alliance) The Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT is using drone imaging in combination with open-source satellite images to identify bananas in mixed crop landscapes in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and in southern Benin. Once banana plants are identified, researchers use advanced algorithms and machine learning to distinguish healthy plants from those affected by BXW (banana Xanthomonas wilt) or BBTD (banana bunchy top disease) with over 90% accuracy. Future research is needed to better distinguish BXW from Fusarium wilt and other health problems that turn leaves yellow. The Tumaini AI-powered smartphone app can be used to ground-truth these aerial diagnoses, allowing researchers to develop Figure from Selvaraj et al. shows aerial drone images narrowing in on the disease, and the contrast between healthy and and further improve machine-learning models to detect banana diseases early, and prevent outbreaks. diseased plants. B. Omondi Aman (Alliance) Using the Tumaini AI-powered smartphone app to ground-truth aerial diagnoses. (Alliance) 48 49 Iron fist potatoes, integrating nutrition and NUTRITIOUS agriculture in social protection programs FOOD AND VALUE ADDED A Zero Anemia project in Peru is linking agriculture with nutrition in coordination with a variety of public social protection programs. The mothers of young children Flagship Project 4 visiting health clinics for checkups receive vouchers for seed of potatoes that are high in iron. The women and their families learn about growing these potatoes, harnesses the nutritional potential of roots, so children and pregnant women eat more of them. Nutritionists share recipes tubers and bananas, expanding their use that are adapted to local food preferences while explaining that eating iron-rich sustainably, and adding value through post- harvest innovation. “At FP4 we have an exciting potatoes contributes to reducing anemia. partnership with RTBfoods that is helping us to turn our crops into nutritious foods that farmers Social protection programs can be a way to scale Iron biofortified potatoes can help prevent and consumers love,” says Tawanda Muzhingi, food-based nutrition solutions linked to agricultural anemia, but only if people grow them and eat Iron Fist Potatoes calendar featuring best practices in nutrition FP4 leader and food scientist at CIP. innovation. Potato has great potential for reducing them as part of a diverse diet. A pilot project and agronomy. F. Pinedo, (Asociación Pataz, La Libertad) iron-deficiency. A recent study published in the in Peru, Zero Anemia, is combining nutritional Journal of Nutrition demonstrated that iron from education with seed vouchers for “Iron Fist” seed vouchers are distributed through health yellow fleshed potatoes has a high absorption potatoes. As part of the project, the International centers to mothers with young children. To in the human body, contributing 30% of the iron Potato Center (CIP) and its partners (Asociación participate, women must be potato farmers, requirement of women on fertile age. It is expected Pataz and Institute for Nutritional Research) are registered with two Peruvian government social that iron biofortified potatoes can contribute over studying the practices, knowledge, motivation, programs: Juntos (“together”—targeting poor 50% of the dietary iron requirements in places where and attitudes surrounding complementary households) and Cuna Más (“crib and more”— it is a major staple such as the Andes. feeding of children aged six to 36 months. The for mothers with kids under three-years-old). A women farmer of La Libertad. Asociación Pataz 50 51 In the first year, one hundred and forty-two The bags of seed included three new CIP clones, The mothers received the seed before the planting households redeemed their vouchers for 10 kg of biofortified through conventional breeding, and two season (November and December 2020), along biofortified seed potatoes. The project included a commercial landraces, Bretaña and Huevo de Indio, with a flyer and a calendar describing how to grow Breeding for better nutrition: Iron-rich potatoes communication campaign targeted at both men all high in iron. The seed potatoes were delivered and prepare these iron-rich potatoes. and women, so that everyone would understand by the “Papas Puño de Hierro” (Iron Fist Potatoes) and sweetpotatoes to combat anemia the nutritional benefits of these potatoes, and campaign by government extension agents in Extensionists monitored the crop and gave farmers how to grow them. collaboration with municipal governments, in technical assistance. During the harvest of May– coordination with local actors. June 2021 the clones will be further evaluated for yield and their acceptance by the families. A cooperative of seed potato growers will multiply the In developing countries, almost half of young varieties for coming seasons, which is essential for women and children under five suffer from further scaling. anemia, caused by a lack of iron in their diets. “Many farmers who grow potatoes suffer from anemia, especially women and children, because While beans and certain vegetables are iron-rich, they need more iron in their diets,” explains Ronal the iron in potatoes and sweetpotatoes is easier Otiniano from Asociación Pataz, adding “Native potatoes are high in iron, but Zero Anemia is part for the human body to absorb, because these of an effort to breed potatoes that are biofortified crops are low in plant compounds (like phytates to have even higher levels of iron, to improve the nutritional impact.” ad phenolic acids) that inhibit iron absorption. Scaling the potatoes involves some innovative An RTB study In Malawi concluded that women nutrition messaging. The project has written dietary guidelines with healthy recipes for young children. could get 18% of the iron they needed by eating The project also produced a song and video about iron-biofortified, orange-fleshed sweetpotato the iron fist potatoes, with local singer Kenty José. The song aired on radio stations in the districts of (OFSP) over two weeks. Potatoes that are rich in iron can help alleviate the suffering of women and Curgos and Julcán. children who suffer from anemia. Bertha Azursa Clemente and her son with In a study in Peru, RTB recently found that iron biofortified potatoes in Huancavelica, Peru. S. Fajardo (CIP) Since almost all food starts on farms, it’s natural FP2 leader and senior sweetpotato breeder for Africa, Maria Andrade, that agriculture and nutrition go together, although absorption from a yellow-fleshed potato variety is testing out a meal during nutritional trials of sweetpotato. J. Low (CIP) Gabriela Burgos, nutritionist at CIP explains this often is not the case in practice. Zero Anemia is significantly higher than that in a purple–fleshed, helping to make it happen and the plan is to link with “Peruvian women could obtain 33% of their daily These studies give promise that roots and tubers social programs for broader scaling. iron-biofortified potato. High polyphenol levels iron needs from the yellow-fleshed potato variety can make a key contribution to meeting women’s in the purple fleshed potato were likely the major and probably more than 50% of their needs from an iron needs, considering their greater potential for inhibitors of iron absorption. Iron absorption from iron-biofortified, yellow-fleshed potato clone. So, it biofortification, because potato and sweetpotato Fighting anemia with seed and knowledge. An extension agent shares iron- a yellow–fleshed, biofortified clone is expected to rich seed potatoes, and a flyer about growing and eating them. C. Villanueva could be a key food to promote in the Government’s are amenable to conventional breeding to (Asociación Pataz, La Libertad) be as high as from the yellow-fleshed variety. Zero Anemia Program”. increase their iron and zinc content. 52 53 Literature review and key informant STEP interviews identify the state of knowledge 1 and knowledge gaps in food science, gender, and markets, to focus research. Gendered food mapping exercises, using STEP Consumers have their say: statistically robust methods in communities to assessing 2 determine the qualities of varieties needed by men and women. and breeding for preferred quality traits STEP Demonstrations with champion processors 3 to evaluate varieties during food preparation. of roots, tubers and cooking bananas STEP Consumer taste tests for foods made from 4 different crop varieties. The CIRAD-led project, RTBfoods, is finding innovative ways to satisfy consumer STEP A food product profile defining quality characteristics important for women and men demand for new crop varieties. The approach organizes consumer preferences for 5 along the food chain. quality characteristics into “product profiles” for food types and translates them into physical properties and genetic traits that plant breeders can measure and select The special issue presents eight different product profiles which can have transformational impact for. Technologies like near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) help to measure those on breeding work. However, RTBfoods realizes that properties quickly to rapidly screen for them in a breeding program. defining the food product profile is just the first step in a process that moves breeding forward: 1. Define the food product profiles. The people who grow, prepare, and eat foods tools to identify the qualities consumers want. Some 2. Link food product profiles to properties, like made from root, tuber and banana crops have strong of these preferred qualities translate into physical starch, pectin, and moisture, that can be assayed preferences, but breeding for the textures and flavors properties that breeders can select for. The findings in the lab. they like can be elusive. This is a major reason why will be used to screen for those traits early in the the adoption of improved varieties is rarely higher breeding cycle. If this process is completed, there’s 3. Develop tools to rapidly screen for these than 40% of the crop’s area, as discussed earlier in great promise to create improved varieties which properties early in the breeding cycle. this report. many people will like, leading to enhanced adoption. 4. Integrate the traits that consumers want into breeding programs. CIRAD, a strategic partner of RTB, is leading a Bill & A special 2020 issue of the International Journal Melinda Gates Foundation funded project, RTBfoods, of Food Science and Technology highlights a 5. Evaluate the new varieties with consumers. which is providing solutions. Teams working with comprehensive method developed by RTBfoods to food product profiles across all five crops use various define the food “product profile”, that is, the end- Pairwise ranking of fufu (fermented cassava) prepared and ranked by users’ preferences for a specific food product: successful, small-scale processors in Osun State, Nigeria. D. Dufour (CIRAD) 54 55 Meeting consumer preferences for boiled and pounded yams in new varieties Yam is a cherished food in West Africa. It is eaten boiled, roasted or fried, but especially as pounded yam (a slightly adhesive dough made by peeling, boiling, pounding and kneading). New yam varieties will only be successful if they can be used in these favorite recipes. In Nigeria consumers look for a pounded yam that is white and has a certain texture (easily stretched and molded, smooth and moderately soft). Second, pounded yam must have a pleasant aroma and taste (not bitter). In Benin, where boiled yam is a popular street food, consumers want tubers that are easy to peel, white or yellowish when boiled, sticky, crumbly, with a sweet taste and a pleasant smell. Boiled yams should not be too dark, or hard to the touch. Identifying these criteria precisely will help breeders to select the right lines for the next generation of improved yams. Champion processors in Osun State, Nigeria evaluate varieties of cassava to see which one makes the best fufu using different cooking techniques. D. Dufour (CIRAD) In Nigeria, IITA and partners crafted food product profiles for stretchability. In cassava, water absorption and diverse properties in a breeding program, such as by identifying traits of importance to rural consumers changes in relative density during boiling correlate starch, fiber or beta-carotene content as well as other of pounded yam, a dough made from boiled tubers. with quick cooking time, which is important for compounds that could be of special interest, such as People preferred pounded yam that is: stretchable, cassava consumers. An operator can process up to tannins or cyanogenic compounds. moldable, sticky, smooth, and moderately soft. 100 samples per day using these objective criteria. “Breeders used to make crosses and then spend years RTBfoods is pioneering methods to link such Near infra-red spectroscopy (NIRS) quickly reads the selecting the best hybrids. NIRS will let breeders preferences with properties that breeders can screen infrared-light spectrum of uncooked (or cooked) discard the unpromising offspring in the first seasons, for. For example, color preference in yam is easy to lab samples of potato, sweetpotato, yam, cassava, to narrow in straightaway on the best candidates,” Boiled yam pieces are crushed and pounded in a mortar by two pestles simultaneously to produce a smooth and predict, and studies are ongoing to develop assays or banana to simultaneously and quickly screen for says Emmanuel Alamu of IITA. stretchable paste. B. Teeken (IITA) Pounding new yam hybrids in CNRA, Bouaké, Côte d’Ivoire. D. Dufour (CIRAD) 56 57 The Scaling Fund: improving the scaling readiness of innovations Researchers often face challenges as they translate their research into innovations IMPROVED for use at a large scale. Since 2018, the RTB Scaling Fund supported rooted apical cuttings (RAC) and seven other projects in Africa and Latin America to bring LIVELIHOODS promising innovations into use. The projects used Scaling Readiness, a step-by-step AT SCALE approach to critically assess the readiness to scale innovations, and implement strategies aimed at resolving bottlenecks for scaling. The Scaling Fund was successful in advancing selected innovations and also contributed to improving the Flagship Project 5 Scaling Readiness approach. helps take innovations to scale by developing and Research for development organizations implementing tools and approaches that benefit Model apical cutting of potato struggle to find the best approaches to scale their with simple leaves. M. Parker(CIP) more efficient and equitable scaling of the broad innovations. Researchers often work more on the Table 1. Overview of the eight Scaling Fund Projects awarded and implemented between 2017 and 2021 spectrum of RTB and CGIAR innovations. The RTB technical side of their innovations than on marketing, RTB Scaling Fund Batch Scaling Fund provides a unique space to nurture policy, communication and the rest of the enabling environment. FP5 is designing strategies to take 2018-2019 2019-2020 2020-2021 the scaling of RTB innovations with our partners innovations to scale, with mechanisms like the RTB 1. Scaling Single diseased-stem 1. Orange Fleshed Sweetpotato (OFSP) 1. TRICOT - Scaling RTB crop and to “practice what we preach” says Marc Schut, Scaling Fund. removal (SDSR) for BXW banana Puree for safe and nutritious food variety validation and FP5 leader and senior innovation and scaling disease in Burundi, eastern DR products and economic opportunities diffusion using farmer citizen Since 2018, RTB has sent out several calls for concept Congo, Rwanda and Uganda for women and youths in Kenya, science in Ghana and Rwanda scientists with IITA and WUR. notes on innovations seeking Scaling Fund support. Uganda and Malawi An independent panel assessed the scaling readiness 2. Conserving sweetpotato roots to 2. Scaling approach for flash drying of 2. Scaling AKILIMO – A Digital of those innovations. Each year, the innovations with produce planting material known as cassava starch and flour at small scale fertilizer recommendation the highest scores received funding. Since 2018, Triple S in Ethiopia and Ghana in Nigeria, DR Congo and Colombia service in Nigeria, Tanzania three batches of projects have been funded, for two and Rwanda years each (Table 1). 3. A technology for turning cassava 3. Scaling Rooted Apical Cuttings in FIPS VPA Cesinter Nduru in her dehaulmed seed potato plot of Asante peels into an ingredient of animal Kenya and Uganda variety. This is to ensure the root tuber grows to the recommended seed feed in Nigeria size in Murinya village, Kibirichia ward. R. Jumah (CIP) 58 59 Figure 1. Scaling Readiness proposes a step-wise approach to operationalize innovation system thinking in support of the development, implementation and monitoring of better-informed STEP 1 scaling strategies (Sartas et al. 2020) Characterize Profile stakeholders, The Scaling Fund does more than award money to interventions, innovations winning projects. RTB’s FP5 team also guides project and scaling context leaders as they design scaling strategies based on the Scaling Readiness Approach, monitoring their STEP 5 STEP 2 progress, and drawing lessons to inform critical Navigate Diagnose thinking about scaling. Scaling Readiness provides Monitor, evaluate and learn Assess the Scaling Readness concepts, practices and tools to guide decision- (MEL) about scaling strategy IMPACT of the innovation in its making on scaling of innovations. It supports the implementation AT SCALE scaling context design of context-specific innovation packages. The approach assesses each innovation in the package for its readiness to contribute to development outcomes. This provides a basis for identifying the bottlenecks for scaling and developing and Farmer producing seed potato. (CIP) STEP 4 STEP 3 implementing strategies to overcome them. Agree Strategize Seed system model: An integrated complex of seed Table 2. Summary definition of levels of innovation readiness and use (Sartas et al. 2020) Validate the feasibility Identify activities and One of the projects supported in Year 2 was for producers from tissue culture to commercial seed and acceptability of the partnerships to evercome rooted apical cuttings (RACs), an innovation based and service providers and other stakeholders Stage Innovation readiness Innovation use scaling strategy bottlenecks for scaling as on exploiting the yield potential of juvenile planting part of the scaling strategy material to start bulking seed in the field. RACs are Packaging: Economically viable options for packaging 1 Idea Intervention team distributed to seed producers to plant in the field material and transport of rooted apical cuttings to bulk quality seed to quickly disseminate novel Capacity building: Developing capacity of 2 Basic Model (testing) Direct partners (rare) varieties. The innovations in the package comprise: stakeholders in the technology and in seed production. Nurseries and seed producers are 3 Basic Model (proven) Direct partners (common) RAC method: Cuttings are taken from plantlets backstopped until they can operate independently in the screen-house and transplanted into plugs 4 Application Model (testing) Secondary partners (rare) of substrate. The cuttings take root and grow into Investment feasibility: Ensure that the various vigorous plantlets which can be planted in the field innovations are economically feasible for users 5 Application Model (proven) Secondary partners (common) Robust market-demanded variety: Tolerant to The RACs innovation package was assessed using 6 Application (testing) Unconnected developers (rare) disease, heat and water stress the concepts of Innovation Readiness and Innovation Use. Innovation Readiness is the demonstrated Tissue culture: Starter material for cuttings and must 7 Application (proven) Unconnected developers (common) capacity of an innovation to fulfill its contribution be in place where cuttings are to be produced to development outcomes in specific locations. 8 Innovation (testing) Unconnected users (rare) Innovation Use indicates the level of use of the Farmer producing seed potato on farm in a nursery plot from apical innovation or innovation package by the project 9 Innovation (proven) Unconnected users (common) cuttings from a rural nursery. M. Parker (CIP) members, partners and society (Table 2). 60 61 Over two years, the project improved the scaling Parker observes that “Scaling Readiness helps readiness of the RAC innovations, especially with researchers to understand that innovations do two critical bottlenecks: packaging and capacity not scale themselves. The Scaling Fund supports Modelling farming systems to optimize interventions development (Figure 2). Monica Parker who led the a project as it anticipates obstacles, and then project explained that “the cuttings were accepted overcomes them.” by users so quickly that they were being used incorrectly. The plantlets looked more like stem The application of the Scaling Readiness approach FarmDESIGN is a model that helps to find the cuttings than high-yielding apical cuttings. This with these projects enhanced scaling, but is being corrected through communication and implementing the projects also improved the right balance between income, nutrition and soil various training events.” approach itself. Building on this work, the FP5 health. An innovative application of the model team has now published guidelines, and an article describing its theoretical underpinnings with more in combination with a forward-looking partial thorough outcome studies underway. equilibrium multi-market economic model, IMPACT, allows for analyzing various scenarios of Figure 2. Readiness and use of the RACs innovation package at project start and finish in Uganda Apical cutting of potato. (CIP) future drivers of change. Complex interactions At introduction1 of innovation package 2 years after introduction2 of innovation package between biophysical and socio-economic spheres The scores represent are explored and drivers like climate change, Uganda 8 8 Robust variety Tissue culture contributions from Robust variety disease outbreaks, shifts in consumer demand partners Kenya: National 7 7 Potato Council of Kenya or scaling of innovations are assessed and their Capacity (platform), Stokman Rozen 6 6 building Apical Kenya (private business), possible impacts on ecosystems and livelihoods Tissue culture nurseries cuttings Farm Inputs Promotions can be quantified. Modelling farms (in partnership 5 5 Africa (NGO) and Internation- Innovation Apical Seed Seed system al Potato Center; and with Wageningen University & Research) in Readiness cuttings Investment 4 system 4 model Uganda: KaZARDI and model Investment feasibility BugiZARDI (NAROs), Uganda, Kenya and Vietnam have shown that feasibility Agromax (private sector), 3 3 greater agrobiodiversity (such as growing more Self Help Africa (NGO) and Packaging International Potato Center crops to eat at home) can increase the farm’s 2 2 • Capacity building seed producers • Business models 1 resilience, improve the soil and put healthier food • Capacity building nurseries At introduction of RTB 1 • Capacity building seed producers 1 Scaling Fund project, on the table. The model clarifies certain trade-offs. Packaging • Business models January 2019  2 Following 2 years of RTB For example, a more diverse farm (with less land in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Scaling Fund project cash crops) may not make the most money, but it Innovation Use may be better at adapting to a changing climate Institutional Arregement Practice Product Service and to managing emerging pests and diseases. Banana farmers in Uganda. S. Schumacher/ (Wageningen University & Research) 62 63 Overcoming such problems requires that farmers spraying. There were also control groups that did Government extension workers and potato reach an agreement on how to act, when, and how not communicate. Comparing farmers in these two researchers from a local agricultural research center to monitor diseases, and how to set sanctions. groups showed that communication improved actively supported this action research. After EVOCA met with communities to teach them farmers’ level of cooperation in managing the disease witnessing farmers’ enthusiasm, an extension agent Encouraging farmers to take collective disease diagnosis based on visual recognition of and avoiding free riders. stated: “Farmers are engaged in this work; maybe symptoms, and management. Through this action they are more motivated because they are in charge.” action to manage plant disease research, the communities, especially the ware Extensionists should not only give advice, but also Berga Lemaga of CIP added: “Such an approach potato producers, came to understand that diseases organize groups and use social media strategies. should not only be limited to disease management, are not simply induced by temperature or humidity, Knowing that a disease is contagious, understanding but also extended to the adoption of all technical and but by pathogens and that they are infectious, so its cause, symptoms, and how it spreads helps social innovations that help boost potato production they are a community problem. This motivated motivate farmers to band together to manage it. to impact food and nutrition security and increase Farmers may not be motivated to In the seed potato cooperatives, the government set who only produced ware potatoes disregarded the the cooperatives to include more farmers from the Facilitated learning can help farmers design their its contribution to the national economy.” Much cooperate to manage a crop disease up a monitoring system where a farmer committee- regulations and the committees had limited technical villages, to propose new ways of collaborating. monitoring systems. Organized farmers can then use more engagement is needed to stimulate change in imposed sanctions on those who failed to properly capacity to detect and manage diseases. Farmers also Previously farmers had inspected their fields, but ICT to share information about disease incidence, Ethiopia’s highly centralized research and extension unless they understand how it spreads manage potato diseases. For example, the committee thought that the committees were biased towards now they agreed to form teams of three neighbors and about who is managing the disease well and system. To contribute to this effort, EVOCA is from one farm to another. Building could reject farmers’ seed potato, forcing them to sell their relatives and friends, adding to the mistrust for early morning joint disease scouting, with a who is not. developing practice briefs and is planning a workshop avenues of cooperation, through apps it at low prices as ware (table) potato. But farmers from members who had their seed rejected. monitoring committee to follow up on the scouting with key stakeholders to get the message across. teams. When researchers suggested sanctions on and through local organizations, can also those who did not manage diseases properly, the help motivate farmers to work together, farmers feared that penalties could lead to conflicts. But when they realized that some farmers ignored as shown by an experience in Ethiopia. agreed disease surveillance and management practices, they did impose sanctions, such as fines for missing team field scouting, or failing to report disease appearances. Managing plant diseases often requires that farmers act as a group, but collective action needs As they worked together, the farmers realized that to be carefully organized. As part of an EVOCA sanctions alone were not enough. Some farmers research program supported by RTB, a study on the confided that they could not spray their fields management of potato late blight and bacterial because they could not afford fungicides. Other wilt in Ethiopia highlighted coordination problems farmers decided to help them pay for fungicides, among potato farmers. Farmers misunderstood the rather than risking an outbreak from unsprayed fields. causes of the diseases and how they spread. More than 90% of the surveyed farmers did not know that A three-day-long game experiment with late blight and bacterial wilt are contagious. Each potato-growing farmers showed how ICT can family tried to manage the diseases alone. So, the foster cooperative behaviors. Farmers received only group action was among the seed-producing smartphones with an internet-based group cooperatives: perhaps only 5% of the potato growers. communication application and training to use the device. They were allowed to communicate for three days in groups on individual and collective fungicide Farmer committee members checking for adherence on collectively agreed disease management practices. E. Assefa (Wageningen University & Research) Farmers learn to manage potato disease by working together, for example planting healthy seed potato. E. Assefa (Wageningen University & Research) 64 65 11 organizations have contributed to the results presented in Knowledge Partners In total, 2 this annual report. Our partners have contributed to at least a scientific article Products reported under RTB and/or have implemented a joint project or initiative funded by or mapped under RTB. The distribution of partners by organization cumulative type is presented in the graph below. Out of our partners, 23% are academic Peer-reviewed 682 journal articles institutions, 18% are from a national agricultural research system (NARS), 8% published are advanced research institutions, 16% are from the private sector and 13% are government departments at the national and subnational level. PUBLICATIONS 600 Publications in ISI journals 23% Academic 10% Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) institutions 8% Advanced Research Institutions 583 Open access journal articles 3% CGIAR Center/Program 3% International Development Organizations National 371,679 Publications 18% Agricultural 2% Regional and sub-Regional downloaded Research Organizations CGSPACE System (NARS) 13% Government 2% Financing Institutions (including Foundations) 482,839 Publications Agricultural views 16% Private 1% International Research Centers sector 0.5% Farmers (individual or group) 0.5% Community Based Organizations (CBO) 66 67 Donors Financial Report The total 2020 budget for RTB was USD 90.8M, USD 2020 Expenditure 20.5M (23%) from W1&2, and USD 70.2M (77%) from W3, bilateral and RTB participant centers’ own funds. RTB total expenditure in 2020 was USD 69.5M, or 77% of the budget, of which USD 17.6M (25%) was from The initial W1&2 budget was USD 19.0M. During W1&2, and USD 51.9M (75%) from W3, bilateral and centers’ own funds. W1&2 expenses reached 86% 2 BLADES Foundation the year the following risk mitigation measures execution of the final budget and W3, bilateral and centers’ other own expenditure, reached 74% execution. were taken to reduce the COVID-19 impact on The RTB flagships have an average execution of 87%. No flagship overspent. AAH • Action Against Hunger implementation: i) review the budget allocated to The chart below shows the W1&2 budget and expenditure by flagship and the Program Management Unit Australia ACIAR • Australian Centre for International travel/workshop ii) reorient towards activities that (PMU) expenditure of USD 1.3M. Agricultural Research would be more feasible to deliver, iii) reduce the IBRD • International Bank for Reconstruction and Development overall budget allocated due to uncertainty of funds Flagship 2020 W1&2 Budget vs Expenses Austria ADA • Austrian Development Agency from donors. The final allocation was USD 18.1M. ICIPE • International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology Additionally, RTB had USD 2.5M from carryover from (USD Millions) Belgium DGDC • Directorate General for Development 2019. Hence, the total budget for RTB in 2020 was Budget Cooperation IFAD • International Fund for Agricultural Development USD 20.5M. Flagship W1-2 Bioversity BMGF • Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Ireland • Irish Aid CIAT CIP IITA CIRAD WUR Partners Add. Funds PMU Total International Comoros • Ministere de l’Energie, de l’Agriculture, de la McCAIN • Foods Limited CGIAR Funding Windows FP1 : Enhanced Genetic Resources 0.76 0.91 1.49 0.67 0.30 - 0.13 0.21 - 4.48 FP2 : Productive Varieties & Quality Seed 0.51 0.47 2.19 0.67 0.02 0.08 - 0.28 - 4.23 Peche et de l’Environnement MEDA • Mennonite Economic Development Associates • Windows 1&2: funds are provided by the FP3 : Resilient Crops 0.83 0.46 0.69 1.37 0.08 - - 0.37 - 3.81 CGIAR to RTB for allocation across the agreed CORNELL • Cornell University NCSU • North Carolina State University portfolio. Window 1 funds are allocated by FP4 : Nutritious Food & Added Value 0.17 0.50 0.65 0.53 0.24 - 0.08 0.11 - 2.27 the CGIAR System Organization to different FP5 : Improved Livelihoods at Scale 0.59 0.58 0.85 1.09 0.02 0.38 - 0.17 - 3.68 EC • European Commission Netherlands NWO • Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research CRPs including RTB, while Window 2 funds CRP Management & Support Cost 0.04 0.07 0.08 0.08 - - - 0.06 1.75 2.07 are designated by donors specifically to RTB. France CIRAD • Centre de coopération internationale en TOTAL 2.90 3.00 5.96 4.41 0.67 0.46 0.20 1.19 1.75 20.54 Perú MINAGRI • Ministerio de Agricultura y Riego del Perú recherche agronomique pour le développement • Window 3: funds are allocated by a Donor Expenses QUT • Queensland University of Technology Friedrich Alexander • University Erlangen-Nuremberg to a center using the centralized CGIAR trust Flagship W1-2 funding facility. The Projects are mapped Bioversity CIAT CIP IITA CIRAD WUR Partners Add. Funds PMU Total SFSA • Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture International Germany GIZ • Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale into RTB when they are consistent with the RTB portfolio. FP1 : Enhanced Genetic Resources 0.76 0.80 1.38 0.67 0.28 - 0.12 - - 4.01 Zusammenarbeit GmbH Spain AECID • Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional FP2 : Productive Varieties & Quality Seed 0.51 0.40 1.98 0.71 0.02 0.07 - - - 3.70 Government of India Uganda NARO • The National Agricultural Research Organisation • Bilateral: funds are contracts directly FP3 : Resilient Crops 0.83 0.42 0.61 1.32 0.08 - - - - 3.25 negotiated and signed between a center FP4 : Nutritious Food & Added Value 0.17 0.49 0.63 0.46 0.17 - 0.08 - - 2.00 Government of Japan United Kingdom FCDO • Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and a donor. The Projects are mapped into RTB when they are consistent with the RTB FP5 : Improved Livelihoods at Scale 0.59 0.46 0.70 1.08 0.00 0.29 - - - 3.12 Government of Switzerland United States USAID • Agency for International Development portfolio. CRP Management & Support Cost 0.04 0.05 0.08 0.08 - - - - 1.27 1.52 TOTAL 2.90 2.63 5.37 4.31 0.56 0.36 0.20 - 1.27 17.61 * Add. Funds: corresponds to the final confirmation of funds by the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO), SMO transferred an additional as supplemental W1 to ensure RTB received at least 90% of the planned budget and Scaling Funds 2nd Year. 68 69 RTB 2012 -2020 RTB expenditure: 2012 to 2020 The distribution of budget by funding sources shows a relatively stable contribution of W1&2 over the two- RTB Phase I RTB Phase II last years with a reduction of USD 1.0M from USD 21.5M in 2019 to USD 20.5M in 2020. 100 The implementation rate in 2020 was 77%, a decline from 2019 (87%) and 2018 (85%). This was 90 mainly because of the challenges of Covid-19, the late confirmation of W1-2 funds from Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (USD 80 32% 0.63M) and SMO additional supplemental W1 (USD 0.26M) funding that was not feasible for program 30% 70 26% 29% participants to spend before the end of the year. 32% 29% The cumulative expenditure reached USD 682.0M 60 33% over the nine years of the program (USD 191.3M 38% from W1&2, and USD 490.7M from W3, bilateral and center funds). 50 40 52% 27% 49% 52% 50% 48% 20% 39% 53% 46% 30 7% 20 43% 41% 10 41% 29% 20% 24% 23% 25% 17% 0 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 W1&2 W3 Bilateral & Center Funds 70 71 USD Millions ABOUT INNOVATION AINNDNOVATING The CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers FOR ITMHE PACT and Bananas (RTB) is a partnership collaboration of research-for-development stakeholders and partners. Our shared purpose is to exploit the underutilized FUTURE ANNUAL potential of root, tuber and banana crops for improving REPORT nutrition and food security, increasing incomes and fostering greater gender equity – especially amongst the world’s poorest and most vulnerable populations. Bioversity I n t e r n a t i o n a l @rtb_cgiar Alliance www.facebook.com/rtbcgiar www.linkedin.com/company/rtbcgiar