Overview of WEMA Project:

Bt & DT-Bt Maize Commercialization

Sylvester O. Oikeh

WEMA Project Manager, AATF

Presentation at 1st African Biosafety Leadership Summit

15 – 16 August 2016, Nairobi, Kenya

Outline

Background on WEMA project

WEMA partnership structure

WEMA product options for farmers

Brief Updates on WEMA conventional products

Updates on WEMA transgenic products

Conclusion

• A public-private partnership to develop & deploy

royalty-free African drought-tolerant and insect-

pest protected white maize varieties to farmers

• Aim: Increase yield stability, and protect and

promote farmers’ investment in adopting best

management practices (BMPs)

• Under moderate drought, WEMA maize

varieties expected to increase yields by 20–

35% over Year 2008 varieties

Water Efficient Maize for Africa

(WEMA Project)

Relevance of Drought-Tolerant

Technology to African Agriculture

• Frequent droughts are a major challenge to maize production in Kenya

• Maize is the most widely grown staple crop in Africa & main food source for >300 million people

• Maize consumption in KE: 103 kg/ yr/ person – major food security crop

Recorded droughts between 1971 and 2000, and the number of people affected

Impact of Insect-pests on Maize

Stem-borer attack on drought-tolerant maize hybrid

Impact of Stem-borers in Kenya

• Stem-borers: spotted stem-borer (Chilo partellus)

and African stem-borer (Busseola fusca) are a

major pest of maize in Africa

• In Kenya, stem-borers reduce maize production

by a yearly average of 13% or 400,000 tons;

equivalent to normal yearly maize import into KE

• Annual damage on maize by stem-borers in

KE is valued at > USD 90 million ≡ KSH 9.1

billion (DeGroote 2011)

Bt Technology: Tested Solution for Stem-borer Control

Bt technology has been used globally to control

stem-borers with the following benefits:

• Increase in grain yield through better pest-control

• Improvement in grain quality with lower levels of

mycotoxins (poisons) compared with non-Bt maize

• Improved health and safety of farmworkers due to

reduction in insecticides applications and exposure

• Reduced negative environmental impacts from

limited use of insecticides

AATF

African institution mandated to access, develop, & deliver appropriate agricultural technologies to smallholder African farmers royalty-free

Monsanto

World leader in gene

discovery

Donated:

• 3 transgenes

• ~700 global

germplasm royalty-

free

CIMMYT

World leader for

breeding maize for

African agro-ecological

zones

WEMA Partnership Structure

NARS • Expertise in field trials • Breeding/Test DT maize • Adapted checks • Capacity building opportunities

WEMA

KALRO; NARO; ARC;

COSTECH; & IIAM

WEMA Product Options for Farmers

Conventional Drought Tolerant (CDT) Hybrids –

from 2013 in Kenya

CDT + Insect-pest protected (Bt) Hybrids –

from 2017 (?)

CDT + Transgenic Bt + DT Stacked Hybrids –

from 2017 in RSA & KE (?)

(Hybrids and Parental lines through sub-

licensing to seed companies)

Updates on WEMA Conventional

Products

Brief Progress:

Conventional Products • 74 DroughtTEGO® hybrids released across five

WEMA countries since 2013

• 46 hybrids released in KE by KALRO within 4

years

• DroughtTEGO® hybrids have been commercialized in

19 major maize growing counties in Kenya

• Yield advantage of over 4 tons of commercial

WE1101 DroughtTEGO® compared with local check

in Kakamega County in 2014/2015season

http://wema.aatf-africa.org/stewardship/products-commercialisation-and-

licensing-program

DroughtTEGO ® Maize Growing Counties in KE

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

Com. Check Local check WE1101 WE2101 WE2104 WE2106 WE2107 WE2108 WE2109 WE2110 WE2111

Me

an Y

ield

-t/h

a

Variety

Performance of WEMA Hybrids Across 26 Farm

Households, Kakamega, 2014/2015

Updates on WEMA Transgenic Products

(GMO)

Brief Progress: GMO Studies Year Accomplishments

2010 First Confined Field Trial (CFT) application – KALRO & NARO as PIs in

collaboration with AATF, CIMMYT & Monsanto

2014 6 CFTs done at Kiboko with very promising results on performance of

drought tolerance (DT) gene – No cases of non-compliance!

2011 Bt-gene introduced into WEMA for insect-pest protection (insurance

for DT hybrids)

2014 2 – 3 CFTs done at KE & UG on Bt-hybrids with outstanding results in

protecting maize against stem-borers - No cases of non-compliance!

2015 General Release of DT trait in RSA & planting stacked Bt & DT hybrids

2016 • General release approval of Bt-maize by NBA with conditions to

present EIA Project Report to NEMA & conduct of NPTs by KEPHIS

• Planting of stacked Bt & DT hybrids: KE (Kiboko and Kitale) & UG

(Namulonge & Kasese), 2016A

• 5 MON89034 Bt Hybrids available to seed companies in RSA

Impact of Bt-maize in Stem-borer Control

NON-Bt Maize Bt Maize

Summary of Combined Uganda and Kenya

MON810 CFT, Five Season Data

Bt gene had positive and significant effect on yield across

varieties and trials. Yield ‘increase’ was 52% on average

Bt gene significantly reduced numbers of exit holes and tunnel

length across varieties and trials

0

1

2

3

4

Pos Mean Neg mean

Nu

mb

er

of E

xit H

ole

s

-93%

* 0

2

4

6

8

10

Pos Mean Neg mean

Yie

ld [t/

ha

] * 52%

0

1

2

3

4

5

Pos Mean Neg mean

Tu

nn

el L

en

gth

[cm

]

*

-95%

Stem-borer Damage in Maize

Leaf Damage

Stem tunnelling

Exit Holes

MON89034 Bt Hybrids Currently Available

for Licensing in RSA, Aug 2016

Pedigree

Hybrid Code Female Male

WE6206B CML442 WMB4105-NYK-T1B1

WE6207B WMC5516 WMA3305-NYK-T1C1

WE6208B WMA3306-NYK-T1B1 WMB4810

WE6209B WMA2001 WMB4104-NYK-T1A2

WE6210B WMC5516 WMB4105-NYK-T1B1

Transgenic DT Hybrids From CFTs

34 hybrids (with & without

transgene) were evaluated for 3+

years across 5 sites in 3 countries

5 traited (with transgene) hybrids

gave 8 – 14% greater yield than the

non-traited versions

Transgenic Drought Tolerant Maize Hybrid in Confined Field Trials

Moderate-drought Stress

CFT Site, Hopetown, South Africa

Well-watered Condition

Preliminary Data on Control of Stem-borers by Bt

(Stacked DT + Bt Maize CFT, 2016)

Stacked DT-Bt Maize at CFT Kitali, July 2016

Impact of Bt on Busseola Control

Non-Bt maize attacked by stem-borers Bt maize protected from stem-borers

Ownership of WEMA Products

• Parental germplasm belong to the

respective institutions (NARS, CIMMYT, or

Monsanto) depending who developed and

donated to WEMA project for use in

developing the respective WEMA hybrids

• Seed company will be sub-licensed

parental lines with Bt or DT + Bt traits

through AATF to produce their own hybrids

for sale to farmers as soon as commercial

release approval of traits is received

CONCLUSION

WEMA Project has implemented its activities

in Kenya & other countries in compliance with

regulations set by national regulatory

agencies

AATF and partners strongly desire that

Kenyan farmers benefit from WEMA Bt maize

hybrids from 2017; and look forward to

receiving timely, License from NEMA to carry

out NPTs by KEPHIS during short-rains from

August 2016

Acknowledgements

NBA, Kenya

WEMA Project Investors:

• Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

• Howard G. Buffett Foundation

• USAID