WHO NEEDS GMOs?

Conventionally bred drought tolerant maize wins 2012 UK Climate Week Award

 
More than 2 million farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are growing the new varieties for more food and income.



EL BATAN, Mexico, 12 March 2012.
The United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) has won Best Technological Breakthrough at the UK Climate Week Awards for its support to a project to develop drought-tolerant maize in Africa. The prize was announced at the Climate Week Awards, held in London today to celebrate the UK’s most effective and ambitious organizations, communities, and individuals and their efforts to combat climate change.

Known as “Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa” (DTMA), the winning initiative is responsible for the development and dissemination of 34 new drought-tolerant maize varieties to farmers in 13 project countries—Angola, Benin, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe—between 2007 and 2011. An estimated 2 million smallholder farmers are using the drought-tolerant maize varieties and have obtained higher yields, improved food security, and increased incomes.

“This maize is like an insurance against hunger and total crop failure, even under hot, dry conditions like those of recent years”, says 79-year-old Rashid Said Mpinga, a maize farmer in Morogoro, Tanzania, who has been growing maize for almost half a century. "Without good quality maize seed, you cannot earn enough, you cannot have life."

In a continent where maize is the staple crop for over 300 million people and nearly all of it is grown without irrigation, relying solely on precipitation, drought tolerant varieties are invaluable. In 2011 alone, more than 12.5 million people suffered the effects of drought and resulting famines in the Horn of Africa, with the drought being termed the worst in 60 years.



The project uses conventional breeding, where varieties with good drought tolerance characteristics are cross-bred to get final products which are both productive and nutritious and grow well in African conditions. In particular, the DTMA provide farmers with better yields than leading commercial varieties under moderate drought conditions, while giving outstanding harvests when rains are good.

Partners in developing, marketing, or distributing seed include private companies, publicly funded agricultural research and extension systems, ministries of agriculture, non-governmental organizations, and community-based seed producers.

Jointly implemented by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), the DTMA project is presently funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and is also receiving complementary grants from the Howard G. Buffet Foundation (HGBF) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

“DFID has been a highly-valued and reliable, top-ten core contributor to CIMMYT’s work,” said project leader Wilfred Mwangi, scientist and liaison officer at the center’s Nairobi, Kenya, office. “In the case of maize research, four-tenths of our funding is targeted to Africa and most goes to develop stress tolerant maize varieties and more resilient farming systems for maize and associated crops.”

“DFID also provided ten years of valuable support for our mid-altitude maize breeding program for southern Africa, which focused on drought tolerance,” Mwangi said.

In addition, the efforts of DTMA build on long-term support from the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC), the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Rockefeller Foundation (RF), USAID, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the Eiselen Foundation.

WHO MAHITAJI GMOs?

Conventionally kikaingia ukame mahindi kuhimili mafanikio ya 2012 Uingereza Wiki ya Hali ya Hewa tuzo

Zaidi ya milioni 2 wakulima katika Afrika kusini mwa Sahara ni kuongezeka aina mpya kwa ajili ya chakula zaidi na kipato.

EL BATAN, Mexico 12 mars 2012. Idara ya Uingereza wa Maendeleo ya Kimataifa ( DFID ) ameshinda Best Teknolojia Breakthrough katika Uingereza Awards Wiki ya Hali ya Hewa kwa msaada wake kwa mradi wa kuendeleza-kuhimili ukame mahindi katika Afrika. tuzo ilitangazwa kwenye Tuzo Wiki ya Hali ya Hewa, uliofanyika mjini London leo kusherehekea Uingereza ya mashirika ya ufanisi zaidi na kabambe, jamii, na watu binafsi na juhudi zao za kupambana na mabadiliko ya tabia nchi.

Inayojulikana kama "Mahindi kuhimili ukame kwa Afrika" ( DTMA ), mpango wa kushinda ni wajibu kwa ajili ya maendeleo na usambazaji wa aina mpya ya mbegu 34 mahindi ukame-kuhimili kwa wakulima katika nchi 13 mradi wa-Angola, Benin, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Msumbiji, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe na-kati ya 2007 na 2011. wastani wa milioni 2 wakulima wadogo wadogo ni kutumia aina mahindi ukame-kuhimili na kupata mavuno bora, kuboresha usalama wa chakula, na mapato zaidi.

"Mahindi Hii ni kama bima dhidi ya njaa na kushindwa jumla ya mazao, hata chini ya hali ya moto, kavu kama wale wa miaka ya hivi karibuni", anasema 79 mwenye umri wa miaka Rashid Said Mpinga, mkulima wa mahindi katika Morogoro, Tanzania, ambaye amekuwa kupanda mahindi kwa karibu nusu karne. "Bila ya mbegu bora ya mahindi, huwezi kupata kipato cha kutosha, huwezi kuwa na uzima."

Katika bara ambapo mahindi ni zao kikuu kwa watu zaidi ya milioni 300 na karibu wote ni mzima bila ya umwagiliaji, kutegemea tu juu ya precipitation, ukame aina kuhimili ni mchango mkubwa sana. Mwaka 2011 peke yake, zaidi ya watu milioni 12.5 yameteseka madhara ya ukame na njaa kusababisha Pembe ya Afrika, pamoja na ukame kuwa wanaiita mbaya zaidi katika miaka 60.

mradi wa matumizi ya kawaida ya uzalishaji, ambapo aina na sifa nzuri ukame ni msalaba-bred kupata bidhaa ya mwisho ambayo ni wawili uzalishaji na chenye na kukua vizuri katika hali ya Afrika. Hasa, DTMA kutoa wakulima na mavuno bora kuliko kuongoza aina ya kibiashara chini ya hali ya wastani ukame, wakati wa kutoa mavuno bora wakati mvua ni nzuri.

Washirika katika kuendeleza, masoko, au kusambaza mbegu ni pamoja na makampuni binafsi, hadharani unafadhiliwa utafiti wa kilimo na ugani mifumo, wizara ya kilimo, mashirika yasiyo ya kiserikali, na wazalishaji wa jamii mbegu.

Pamoja kutekelezwa na Mahindi ya Kimataifa na Ngano Kituo cha Kuboresha (CIMMYT) na Taasisi ya Kimataifa ya Kilimo cha Kitropiki ( IITA ), mradi DTMA kwa sasa unafadhiliwa na Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) na pia kupokea misaada ya nyongeza kutoka G Howard . Buffet Foundation (HGBF) na Marekani Shirika la Maendeleo ya Kimataifa (USAID).

"DFID imekuwa sana-yenye thamani na ya kuaminika, juu ya msingi kumi mchangiaji kwa kazi CIMMYT," alisema kiongozi wa mradi wa Wilfred Mwangi, mwanasayansi na afisa uhusiano katika ofisi ya kituo cha Nairobi, Kenya,. "Katika suala la utafiti wa mahindi, 4/10 ya fedha yetu ni walengwa na Afrika, na mengi huenda kuendeleza stress aina mahindi uvumilivu na mifumo ya zaidi resilient kilimo kwa mazao ya mahindi na kuhusishwa."

"DFID pia ilitoa miaka kumi ya msaada wa thamani kwa ajili ya katikati ya urefu yetu ya mahindi ya kuzaliana kwa kusini mwa Afrika, ambayo ililenga katika ukame," Mwangi alisema.

Aidha, juhudi za DTMA kujenga juu ya muda mrefu msaada kutoka Shirika la Uswisi kwa ajili ya Maendeleo ya Ushirikiano (SDC), Wizara ya Shirikisho la Ushirikiano wa Kiuchumi na Maendeleo (BMZ), Mfuko wa Kimataifa wa Maendeleo ya Kilimo (IFAD), Foundation Rockefeller ( RF), USAID, Umoja wa Mataifa la Maendeleo Program (UNDP), na Foundation Eiselen.