Month: June 2015
Farmers in India embrace high-zinc wheat for its nutritional benefits
Nutrition, health and food security
More than 50,000 farmers adopted zinc-biofortified wheat varieties during the 2015-2016 crop cycle.
For development expert Paula Kantor, gender equality was crucial
Gender equality, youth and social inclusion
Gender and development specialist Paula Kantor had a deep understanding of how change can empower men and women to give them greater control over their own lives.
Conservation agriculture in Africa: where does it fit?
Innovations
The controversial debate among researchers about the suitability of conservation agriculture for smallholder farmers in Africa continues while millions face food insecurity and degrading resources.
Growing land scarcity, the Borlaug hypothesis and the rise of megafarms
Innovations
Derek Byerlee, former director of the CIMMYT economics program (1987-94) and current visiting scholar at Stanford University and adjunct professor at Georgetown University, presented some of his latest research at a brown bag lunch at CIMMYT headquarters on 1 May. His presentation, “Growing Land Scarcity, the Borlaug Hypothesis and the Rise of Megafarms,” examined the economic and environmental benefits and repercussions of cropland expansion, the recent rise of agribusiness and the delicate balance between crop intensification and deforestation.
First international training workshop on farming systems analysis in India
Capacity development
The international training workshop “Approaches for integrated analysis of agricultural systems in South Asia: Field, to farm, to landscape scale,” jointly organized by CIMMYT and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)-Central Soil Salinity Research Institute (CSSRI), was held at Karnal, Haryana, India, during 18-23 May. The workshop targeted farming systems and agricultural development researchers in South Asia and provided an overview of the approaches and tools used to assess agricultural systems.
WPEP strengthens farmer knowledge of wheat seed production in Pakistan
Capacity development
The Wheat Productivity Enhancement Program (WPEP), led by CIMMYT and funded by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), held technical training sessions on wheat seed production from March to May 2015 for farmer enterprise groups (FEGs) in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Province. The training was held in collaboration with the Outreach Programme of the Agriculture Research System in KP Province, which formed the FEGs, each comprising 30-35 persons including farmers, seed dealers and seed company representatives.
UAVs provide researchers in NW China with a new view of agriculture
Capacity development
We have come a long way when it comes to obtaining aerial images of our research sites. My colleagues and I once used helium-filled balloons and twin cameras to obtain infrared and color images in an all-day operation; now we use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) fitted with high-resolution lenses and multispectral cameras to take dozens of images over large areas in a matter of minutes.
HTMA offers stress-resilient maize hybrids to meet Bangladesh’s growing demand
Capacity development
CIMMYT’s Heat Stress Tolerant Maize for Asia (HTMA) project held a hybrid maize field day during 21-22 April at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute’s (BARI) Regional Agricultural Research Stations (RARS) in Khoirtola, Jessore and Gazipur. The event was attended by over 60 participants, including local maize farmers, Bangladeshi seed company representatives, agricultural input dealers, Bangladesh government seed system officers and BARI maize researchers.
CIMMYT receives “Excellence Through Stewardship” certification
Nutrition, health and food security
CIMMYT has been awarded an Excellence Through Stewardship (ETS) certificate of achievement for successfully completing the ETS audit requirements for its operations in Mexico and Kenya. ETS is a global, not-for-profit industry-coordinated organization dedicated to “promote the responsible management of agricultural technology, through encouraging product stewardship and quality management systems practices and by educating the public.” The ETS audit was an independent third-party review of CIMMYT’s quality management system and standard operating procedures (SOP) for transgenic research. “The successful ETS certification is an important milestone in implementing and modeling – teaching and demonstrating – responsible stewardship of transgenic research,” according to Kevin Pixley, Director of CIMMYT’s Genetic Resources Program. CIMMYT is the first CGIAR center to achieve ETS certification.
New technologies to increase coffee-maize system profitability
Capacity development
To demostrate the advances of the project “Increasing the profitability of maize-coffee systems” conducted by CIMMYT in Colombia over the past 10 years in collaboration with the National Federation of Colombian Coffee Producers (FEDERECAFE, Spanish acronym), two field days were held at the Paraguaycito–QuindĂo (29 April) and La Catalina–Risaralda (7 May) Experiment Stations belonging to CENICAFE, FEDERECAFE’s research unit. At these events, attended by 158 representatives of the Local Coffee Growers’ Committees and the National Federation of Cereal Growers (FENALCE, Spanish acronym), the latest advances in the areas of climate change, agronomy and genetic improvement were presented.*
Impact in farmers’ fields is the driving force of science and innovation in agriculture, says new CIMMYT DG Martin Kropff
Agricultural research for development must reconcile approaches that place resource-poor farmers at the center, said CIMMYT’s new Director General addressing staff at CIMMYT headquarters near Mexico City on his first say in the new job.
Sin in the seed: meeting of the minds to combat maize lethal necrosis
Nutrition, health and food security
