Month: September 2014
Partnering with seed companies to disseminate fertilizer-friendly maize seed in East Africa
Nutrition, health and food security
The global warming challenge for wheat
Climate adaptation and mitigation
The expected average rate of warming over current wheat areas for the next few decades is a little less than 0.5 °C per decade, which implies a negative yield impact of about 2 percent per decade.
Mexican university students attend eighth annual CIMMYT open house
Capacity development
On 19 September CIMMYT-El Batán held the eighth annual Open House for 300 Mexican students from the states of Puebla, Querétaro, Michoacán, Guadalajara, Guanajuato, State of Mexico and Distrito Federal.
Will yield increases continue to feed the world? The case for wheat
Innovations
Wheat, being produced equally in developing and developed countries, is the top global source of calories and the top traded food grain, a position it is unlikely to lose.
NuME organizes financial management workshop for partners
Capacity development
CIMMYT’s Nutritious Maize for Ethiopia (NuME) project recently organized a half-day workshop to refresh the knowledge of financial officers from partner institutions on various accounting and reporting procedures, with specific reference to financial procedures that apply to projects funded by the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD).
CCAFS climate smart village program progress makes news in India
Climate adaptation and mitigation
The CCAFS Climate Smart Village (CSV) program recently earned significant media attention for its successes in the Indian states of Bihar, Haryana and Punjab where the program is being implemented. The CSVs were featured in BBC News as well as several newspapers in the region.
Australian wheat breeders’ relationship with Mexico spans more than 40 years
Climate adaptation and mitigation
In Australia, over 90 percent of local wheat varieties can be traced back to CIMMYT varieties, reports Kim Honan in a 17 September article on ABC’s Rural website.
Annual planning meeting for Wheat Productivity Enhancement Program supported by USDA
Capacity development
The Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) and CIMMYT organized a two-day annual wheat planning meeting at the National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC) in Islamabad.
The role of crop diversity in climate adaptation
Climate adaptation and mitigation
The impending threat of global climate change makes the storage and maintenance of crop diversity, held in the form of seeds in gene banks around the world, more important than ever before.
6th CSISA wheat breeding meeting reviews gains in South Asia
Capacity development
On 11-12 September, 61 scientists from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal convened in Kathmandu, Nepal, for the 6th Wheat Breeding Review Meeting of the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) objective 4 program.
Addressing challenges in maize breeding to deliver improved seed to African smallholder farmers
Capacity development
In Swaziland, maize is a staple crop and a source of income for many of the nation’s farmers. “The work on our staple crop cannot be overstated,” said Dr. Vusumuzi Mkhonta, acting director, Department of Agriculture, Research and Specialist Services in Swaziland. “If anything were to happen to maize, the entire population might perish.”
Wheat value chain workshop aims to bolster food security in Sindh, Pakistan
Capacity development
Food insecurity is a persistent problem in Sindh, a province in Pakistan slightly smaller than Tajikistan and home to 42.5 million residents. Almost three-quarters of the population are subject to regular food shortages due to the stagnation of staple food production and pressures caused by a doubling of the population since 1999.
Upcoming: 12th Asian Maize Conference
Nutrition, health and food security
In Asia, maize production is growing at a faster rate than any other cereal. The demand for maize has grown in response to changing consumer habits; with greater demand for meat in consumers’ diets, maize is in high demand as feed for the growing livestock sector. At the same time, there remains great opportunity to increase the area under maize production in the region, as well as tremendous opportunities for innovations in crop improvement, management and diversification.
Towards total quality: workshop on maize seed quality analysis based on ISTA protocols
Capacity development
During the training courses for MasAgro Network seed producers given in 2014, surveys were conducted to determine their training needs in 2015.
