Americas
CIMMYT has several offices in the Americas, including global headquarters in Mexico and a regional office in Colombia. Activities are supported by an additional 140 hectares of stations in diverse agro-ecological zones of Mexico. CIMMYT’s genebank in Mexico stores 27,000 maize and 170,000 wheat seed collections – key to preserving the crop genetic diversity of the region. CIMMYT projects range from developing nutritionally enhanced maize to mapping regional climate change hot spots in Central America. The comprehensive MasAgro project aims to increase wheat production in Mexico by 9 million tons and maize production by 350,000 tons by 2030. CIMMYT promotes regional collaboration and facilitates capacity building for scientists, researchers and technicians.
New CIMMYT maize hybrids available from Latin America Breeding Program
Innovations
CIMMYT is offering a new improved maize hybrid to partners, to scale up production for farmers in the region.
Planting Better Seeds a Key for Mexico’s Food Security
Nutrition, health and food security
Source: Mexico Business News (14 Oct 2022)
Bram Govaerts discussing the development of seed systems that work for smallholder farmers.
CIMMYT delivers seed to Svalbard Global Seed Vault
Environmental health and biodiversity
Maize and wheat seeds stored in Svalbard are essential for protecting global biodiversity for future generations.
Exploring the potential for scaling nutritious cereal-based foods
Nutrition, health and food security
CIMMYT’s agrifood systems research looks at how to better connect farmers to consumers in a sustainable way, allowing for higher benefits from farming and increased access to nutritious cereal-based food for consumers.
Making purple maize a seed of prosperity for Peruvian farmers
Gender equality, youth and social inclusion
High-yielding purple maize, introduced into Peruvian agriculture by Alicia Medina Hoyos, is attracting global attention.
Nestlé Mexico and CIMMYT expand their collaboration for responsible sourcing through Plan Maíz
Climate adaptation and mitigation
The results of the Plan Maíz initiative were presented and, looking ahead, one of the goals is to ensure that 20% of the maize and wheat from this project is sourced through regenerative agriculture practices by 2025 and 50% by 2030.
Partnerships crucial for protecting plant health
Environmental health and biodiversity
Insights from the CGIAR Plant Health Initiative reached new audiences at the first ever International Plant Health Conference.
Developing climate change resistant wheat
Climate adaptation and mitigation
Source: CGTN (4 Oct 2022)
Climate change, particularly rising temperatures, are impacting on wheat yields. CIMMYT is working to develop new varieties with tolerance to the effects of climate change.
Connect rural areas with digital innovations to unlock climate resilience for hundreds of millions of farmers
Innovations
Jawoo Koo, IFPRI, and Andrea Gardeazabal, CIMMYT, explain how smallholders in Africa, Asia and Latin America will benefit from the CGIAR Initiative for Digital Innovation.
The world cannot ignore the global food crisis and its consequences
Climate adaptation and mitigation
Source: Des Moines Register (25 Sep 2022)
Cary Fowler, US Special Envoy for Global Food Security, mentions CIMMYT as one example of institutions “contributing significantly to global food security.”
MasAgro is “a gift for Africa”
Capacity development
CIMMYT’s Board of Trustees were impressed with MasAgro’s outcomes in Mexico and its potential for replication in Africa.
