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