Date post: | 23-Jan-2018 |
Category: |
Environment |
Upload: | ccafs-cgiar-program-climate-change-agriculture-and-food-security |
View: | 18 times |
Download: | 2 times |
Can non-GMO climate-smart crops alone sustain small-scale farming?
Jan W. LowPrincipal ScientistInternational Potato Center8 November 2017Bonn, Germany
The Quick Answer:
No!Crops must be in combination with good soil fertility management
(access to organic and inorganic nutrient supplies), better water management and small-scale farmers must have an enabling
environment that provides them access to knowledge and markets.
To adapt to climate-change, we need to: Produce more adapted crops faster at times under tougher
environments… Produce more with less water…
It’s not just about yield, it’s about quality …
Focus: What does this mean for breeding?
Downscale climate change models & crop modelling to drivers of yield & quality loss
Breeding programs need: New methods… Considerable resources .. because breeding is a numbers
game.. Cheaper and faster tools to assess progress… Better understanding of the crop
Genome Physiology & Biochemistry
1. Climate change will increase food prices
2. Increasing food prices worsens extreme poverty
3. Per capita demand for roots and tubers in SSA significantly higher than cereals in 2050
4. Technological change in roots and tubers essential to dampen food price
increases and risk of hunger under any climate change scenario
World Bank 2016
Cassava Potato Sweetpotato Yam Other R&T
Focus: Roots & tubers in the context of climate change?
In SSA, >95% of sweetpotato & potato are grownon small farms..Fastest in area expansion in SSA because of high energy output per unit area per unit time..
Sweetpotato (194 MJ/ha/day) vs maize (145 MJ/ha/day)
Breeding for small-farms Yield and pest and disease resistance… especially viruses
Virus resistant varieties enable farmers to retain clonally propagatedseed longer without yield decline
Pest resistant varieties– decline in pesticide use For sweetpotato, conduct trials without fertilizer
because farmers do not use fertilizer Drought and heat tolerance High nutrient quality
Sweetpotato: address vitamin A deficiency problems Iron & Zinc in potato; Fe in orange-fleshed sweetpotato
Good taste and market demand
Improved methods & tools led to drought tolerant orange-fleshed sweetpotatoes in Mozambique Drought is complex
Ability to sprout after dry season Vine vigor Adequate yield under good conditions
For quality traits, Near Infrared Spectrometer (NIRS) permitted fast throughput (2 minutes per sample) at a reasonable cost. Provides protein, dry matter, sugars Beta-carotene, Ca, rough Fe & Zn
Accelerated breeding scheme More sites earlier Reduced cycle from 8 to 4 years 15 released in 2011; 7 more in 2016 Farmer involvement Genetic gain: 0.3 tons/ha/year
Improved vine vigor (on right) criticaltrait in drought breeding program
Andrade et al. 2016, Journalof Agricultural Science 1-11.
Our experience with biofortified orange-fleshedsweetpotato in SSA
Neglected crop because considered as crop of the poor, a woman’s crop
Introduced materials usually very susceptible to East African viruses
Adults in SSA have strong preference for high dry matter
Recognized the need to Breed in Africa for Africa 2 SSA countries breeding in 2005
13 countries breeding in 2017 3 CIP-led population development programs
Focus on early maturing varieties 40 of 71 released since 2009 mature <4 mo
Low et al., 2017, Global Food Security 14: 23-30
No point in breeding if does not reach farmers: Launched Sweetpotato for Profit and Health Initiative 4.2 million households reached by September 2017
SSA Breeders in front of crossing block
The Andes is the home of the potato & a microcosmfor studying climate change… Center of potato diversity
More than 4,000 varieties and landraces can be found
Local farmers conserving through cultivating around 3,000 landraces
Warming trend since 1950, 3 times the global rate
Studying changes along the altitude gradient Higher temperatures in areas located in higher latitudes will lead to
longer growing seasons and higher yields, but also increased pest and pathogen pressure
Potato production moving higher to avoid disease problems Quality also affected: Lower dry matter content with increasing heat.. Breeding for heat tolerance
Globally breeding for early maturing potato..-- Cereal-potato intercrops-- Many 90 day, pushing for 70 day
LD-33.100
LD-80.78
0
10
20
30
40
50
tn/ha
Clones
UNICA
REICHE
REVOLUCION
LD-33.58LD-
22.58
LD-
92.42
LD-88.104LD-
16.72
LD-19.90
Evaluation of yield (San
Ramon, harvest at 70 dap)
Clones
Yie
ld
(t/H
a)
Late Blight is a difficult disease challenge…that is expected to worsen in parts of SSA
• LB severity - current • LB severity - 2090
Legend
Ethiopia: increase in frequency of fungicide application from once a month to once a week
Breeding Approach: Stack three different resistant R genes in Victoria varietyPromising results in confined field trials in Uganda
Modern toolbox is expanding…New gene editing techniques move away fromneeding foreign organisms to introduce traits
Called CRISPR/Cas System Precise searching.. & editing Can remove “junk” Shut specific genes off Introduce genetic changes Can target many genes at once Much, much cheaper
More public sector research Faster outcomes Hopefully, more pro-poor
outcomes
CRISPR (clustered, regularly interspaced, short, palindromic repeats)/Cas (CRISPR-associated) systems (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnYppmstxIs)
Many thanks for your attention
To learn more:www.sweetpotatoknowledge.orgCipotato.org