Photo: CIMMYT scientists in Kenya observe the transmission of MLN at a secure testing site.
Maize is the primary staple food for more than 300 million consumers in sub-Saharan Africa, each of whom eats more than 50 kilograms of the grain on average per year.
MLN is a viral disease that appeared in Kenya in 2011. It causes extensive necrosis and affects seed in maize ears, leading to as much as 100 percent grain yield loss or, in extreme cases, simply killing the plants. By 2014, the disease had been extensively reported in eastern Africa, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.
Timely and targeted interventions led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in partnership with national agricultural research institutions, governments, commercial seed companies, and global R4D partners have largely controlled the disease, according to Anne Wangai, senior scientist at the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO).
“As an independent international organization, CIMMYT had the unique ability to coordinate and link key players, as well as resources to identify the disease and bring to bear global knowledge and resistant maize germplasm,” Wangai said.
Photo: MLN screening facility at Naivasha, Kenya
The battle against such a devastating disease had to be coordinated on multiple fronts, with a multi-pronged approach, explained B.M. Prasanna, director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program and the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE), who led the large-scale, intensive international response to the MLN outbreak in eastern Africa.
“Among other actions, CIMMYT established a dedicated MLN screening facility in partnership with KALRO at Naivasha in 2013. This has enabled screening of more than 175,000 germplasm entries over the last 6 years and helped identify MLN-resistant breeding lines and hybrids,” Prasanna said.
“CIMMYT has also set up an MLN Quarantine Facility in Mazowe, near Harare, Zimbabwe, in 2017, in partnership with the Plant Quarantine Institute of Zimbabwe, for safe introduction of CIMMYT maize germplasm from Kenya to Zimbabwe.
An MLN information portal and related community of practice have helped partners across Africa to unite effectively against the disease. As many as 18 MLN-tolerant or resistant maize hybrids from the screening efforts are giving hope to smallholder farmers, improving their yields, food security and livelihoods.”
CIMMYT also provided capacity development for public and private partners on MLN virus diagnostics and production of MLN virus-free seed, besides disease surveys. These efforts have helped significantly to keep the disease from spreading on commercial seed.
MLN experience paves the way to limit a deadly insect pest
The fight against MLN is not over, but Prasanna said successful efforts to address it are guiding responses to a more recent threat: the fall armyworm. Originally from the Americas, fall armyworm has caused major damage to maize crops in Africa since 2016 and is extensively reported in Asia since 2018.
A Fall Armyworm R4D International Consortium launched jointly by CIMMYT and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in 2018 involves over 45 organizations and is implementing strategic plans for short-, medium- and long-term research and development steps against the pest.
CIMMYT, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other partners jointly released a comprehensive manual describing integrated management of fall armyworm and organized regional training workshops in Africa. A video in multiple languages by Scientific Animations Without Borders (SAWBO) is being used to train smallholder farmers to identify and respond to fall armyworm.
“The coordinated and rapid response to major diseases and insect pests affecting maize-based agri-food systems in Africa shows the power of cross-sector and cross-regional partnerships,” Prasanna added.
Funding for research to control Maize Lethal Necrosis has come from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture, and the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE). USAID, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and MAIZE have provided generous support for research to monitor and control fall armyworm.
Credits:
See CIMMYT Annual Report 2018 for full credits.