| Seeding
innovation...nourishing hope
CIMMYT Annual Report 2006-2007
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Back to Introduction
Science to benefit the disadvantaged:
Flagship products
CIMMYT puts cutting-edge science at the service
of developing country farmers, offering them better food security
and livelihoods through nine flagship products encompassing maize,
wheat, research tools, cropping systems, and capacitybuilding. The
paragraphs that follow highlight recent Center efforts and achievements
for each product, describing how we seed innovation through science
and nourish hope through its application to benefit disadvantaged
farmers.
Click on title to see
the whole story (in PDF version)
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Stress
tolerant maize. (PDF 195kb)
Maize in developing countries is commonly grown under
highly-variable, stressprone conditions by impoverished
farm households. To enhance their food security and
livelihoods and help protect the environment, CIMMYT
develops maize that naturally withstands drought, poor
soils, pests, and diseases.
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Water-use
efficient wheat with good grain quality. (PDF 253kb)
Waterproductive wheat varieties
now under development will address the needs of farmers
in irrigated areas, where water is growing scarce, and
of resource-poor farmers who grow the crop under rainfed
conditions to obtain large portions of their daily calories,
basic income, and fodder for livestock. They will feature
improved, consumer-oriented grain quality. |
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Improved
methodologies and tools for genetic improvement. (PDF
173kb) CIMMYT is developing
and testing new methodologies and tools to enhance its
breeding efforts and those of partners: molecular genetic
fingerprinting, marker-assisted selection, double haploids,
genetic transformation, advanced biometrics, simulation
models, and integrated knowledge-sharing systems.
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| Specialty
maize for sale. (PDF 228kb) CIMMYT
is working with partners to offer maize farmers in developing
countries new income-generating options through specialty
traits, value addition, or multi-purpose uses of maize. |
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Rust
resistant wheat. (236kb) CIMMYT
is developing a new generation of stable, resilient, and
profitable varieties that possess durable resistance to
the rust diseases, one of the most significant and ever-present
threats to wheat production worldwide. |
| Bio-fortified
maize and wheat. (PDF 177kb)
In work with HarvestPlus
and partners worldwide, CIMMYT is developing improved,
highyielding maize whose grain contains enhanced levels
of essential amino acids, provitamins A, iron, and zinc,
and improved, high-yielding wheat whose grain contains
enhanced levels of bioavailable iron and zinc. |
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New
traits through gene discovery. (PDF 207kb) The
center is applying cutting-edge bioscience to identify
useful genes in its seed collections and other maize and
wheat genetic resources. The work will also produce structured,
well-characterized sets of experimental varieties; internetbased
information management and decision-support systems; useful
genetic stocks, lines, gene pools, genetic mapping populations,
and mutant stocks—all freely available for breeding
programs of CIMMYT and partners worldwide. |
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Capacity
building. (PDF 198kb) CIMMYT
is well-known for its practical courses in maize and wheat
science and for imparting a pragmatic, egalitarian ethos
in research and extension. It also provides technical
and policy analyses promoting food and income security,
and is helping emerging seed production entrepreneurs
and fostering effective linkages among key players in
maize and wheat commodity chains. |
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December, 2007