BY
BISA
Thirteen years ago, on October 5, 2011, a vision was born to transform South Asia’s food, nutrition, and livelihood security. As we mark our 13th Foundation Day, we reflect on our humble beginnings, honour our achievements, and look to the future with renewed enthusiasm and purpose.
A Look Back at Our Roots
Our journey began with a vision to work as a catalyst for improving South Asia’s food, nutrition & livelihood security. From our humble beginnings, we have grown into a community that thrives on innovation, collaboration, and a commitment to excellence. Each step along the way has been a building block in our story. Some glimpses of BISA’s launch can be seen in an old video here.
A decade of impact
As we look back on the last decade – a period of large-scale impact and collaborations – it is remarkable to see how much we have accomplished with our steadfast dedication to supporting our stakeholders across South Asia. BISA’s strategic approach to ensure food, livelihood, and nutritional security in South Asia is driven by its state-of-the-art research facilities at its research stations located in three very different agro-climatic and socioeconomic environments in India that represent the whole of South Asia. The breadth of BISA’s practical, farm-ready research — from setting up climate-resilient villages and developing viable alternatives to rice residue burning to facilitate open exchange of elite germplasm and cutting-edge technologies — reflects not only the vision and approach of CIMMYT but also the philosophy of mutual inspiration, Nobel Prize laureate Dr. Norman Borlaug, who believed strongly in sharing knowledge and “taking it to the farmer.”
Seeds of Success
One of our most impactful initiatives has been building a robust network for evaluating and disseminating high-yielding, climate-resilient wheat varieties. Our collaboration with National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) has brought these life-changing crops to farmers across southern Asia. We have seen yields of 9-10 t/ha at our farms in Jabalpur and Ludhiana – a testament to the potential of our research.
Partnerships for Progress
Collaboration has been the cornerstone of our success. BISA’s collaboration with multiple partners has led to many large-scale impacts in the region. To give just one example, our work demonstrating the multiple benefits of affordable “happy seeder” mechanization in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (to reduce rice residue burning, improve irrigation efficiency and farmer incomes, and cut air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions) has provided government agencies a strong evidence base for policies supporting conservation agriculture and affordable mechanization in the region.
Today in India, Maize is the third most important cereal crop after rice and wheat hence BISA together with CIMMYT works on various issues like evaluation, and scaling of new hybrids of maize in South Asia, long-term research on Conservation Agriculture in a Rice-Maize Cropping System of Eastern Indo Gangetic Plains (IGP) and hybrid seed production of Maize. Recently, BISA organised a stakeholder meeting with various stakeholders in Punjab. Various stakeholders from the private sector, public sector, and Ethanol Industry joined the discussion and deliberated on the future of Maize in India. In collaboration with ICAR, CIMMYT-BISA is working to develop long-duration, high-yielding hybrids for the Kharif season in north India, especially Punjab, to present maize as an alternative profitable crop to replace rice, which has caused a serious water crisis caused by over-pumping of
ground water.
Our collaboration with JICA-CIMMYT-ICAR to develop new wheat varieties with the BNI trait involved field trials at all BISA sites in India. The field trials led to new findings that set the stage for environmentally sustainable wheat production. In 2023, the Atlas of Climate Adaptation in South Asian Agriculture (ACASA) marked the official commencement of the project. ACASA successfully initiated national-level workshops with its partner countries, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, and finalized the methodologies, key workstreams, and outputs for the development of ACASA in the coming years.
BISA’s work on Climate Resilient Agriculture (CRA) in Bihar gained huge success as it reached out to thousands of farmers across several districts and villages of Bihar. It is now being replicated to support the farmers of Madhya Pradesh with the support of the state government. In Punjab also, BISA has joined hands with the state government to support and scale the production of Maize by collaborating with various public & private stakeholders.
Last year, BISA supported the capacity building of 79 young scientists of South Asia to different countries such as Australia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Mexico, Kenya and Ethiopia. Further, CIMMYT-BISA-ICAR jointly organized an ‘Advanced Training on Conservation Agriculture’ to create sustainable agronomic systems. The 12th edition of the training in India saw mid-career researchers and development officers from Morocco, Egypt, Bangladesh, and India participate. The holistic approach of this training helped participants gain hands-on training with field visits and classroom sessions.
Innovation at Our Core
Innovation is at the core of our strategy. Therefore, our employees’ hard work and passion drive us towards success. With their support, we made progress in reducing BISA’s environmental footprint. Promoting diversity and inclusion has also been a key focus of our commitment. We are proud to capture BISA’s journey in a Coffee Table Book – a testament to the power of collaboration and dedication.
Celebrating Our Team
None of this would have been possible without our incredible team. Your passion, creativity, and resilience have been the driving force behind our success. Today, we celebrate each of you and the unique contributions you bring to our community.
A Heartfelt Thank You
To everyone who has been a part of our journey—thank you! Your support, dedication, and belief in our mission have made all the difference. Let’s build on this solid foundation and create a brighter future together.
Here’s to many more years of success, innovation, and community!
Happy Foundation Day!
Watch BISA’s journey here