Science for farmers and a better food future: CIMMYT’s 2007-2008 Annual Report

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Hindered by high fuel costs, loss of land, a decrease in research investments, and encroaching climate change, grain harvests worldwide have taken a hit. And while the resulting increase in food prices may inconvenience those in developed nations, it is disastrous for the poor in developing countries, who typically spend half their meager incomes on food. As the world’s center for maize and wheat improvement, CIMMYT is facing these emerging and ongoing issues through targeted agricultural research, advanced technologies, and innovative global partnerships.

CIMMYT’s most recent efforts in promoting global food security and improving farmers’ livelihoods are documented in its 2007-2008 Annual Report, "Science for Farmers and a Better Food Future."

In his introductory essay, the center's new Director General, Thomas A. Lumpkin, challenges policy makers to address food price inflation, calling the current crisis "…a grand opportunity for humankind to move away from food complacency to action, to put proper policies in place and re-energize science to produce higher yields on less land, with less water, fuel, and fertilizer."

Subsequent articles describe selected CIMMYT efforts that lead the way in attacking food insecurity and poverty. Multilateral partnerships are helping to ensure that small-scale maize farmers in the world's most difficult settings gain access to improved seed varieties at affordable prices (see: “Getting quality seed to maize farmers in eastern and southern Africa”). Budding agricultural specialists who have benefited from center support for their thesis research now hold important positions in agricultural research and extension systems in their home countries, where they can make a real difference in development (see: “Unearthing hidden impacts of CIMMYT’s work: Support documented for more than 800 thesis students”).

In “The journey of a seed,” readers will get an inside look at the complex business of managing and distributing maize and wheat seed shipments to partners in more than 100 developing countries worldwide, while “Early Mexican wheats: The past unlocks the future” explains how Mexican heirloom varieties are collected and how their diversity is used as a source of drought tolerance for varieties across the globe, as farmers face global warming. In addition, higher temperatures, scarcer water, and the need to crop more efficiently and sustainably motivates CIMMYT efforts to study and promote conservation agriculture, as outlined in the article “Concentration on conservation: Agriculture that benefits farmers and the land.”

As Lumpkin's opening message emphasizes, truly effective agriculture development will not be achieved by any one organization acting alone. The center invites readers to become "ambassadors" for effective science and investments, and to join CIMMYT in its global mission to seed innovation and nourish hope for developing country farmers and consumers. "The goals are humanitarian," says Lumpkin, "but also at stake are future peace and political stability."

For more information: Tom Lumpkin, Director General (t.lumpkin@cgiar.org)