Ravi Singh, head of global wheat improvement at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), received the 2021 Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI) Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to protecting wheat from new races of some of agriculture’s oldest and most devastating diseases.
ML Jat, principal scientist and sustainable intensification strategy leader at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), points out some advantages of the bewar system, a climate-resilient alternative to plantation agriculture in India.
In an interview with The Land, Alison Bentley, director of CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program and the CGIAR Research Program on Wheat (WHEAT), emphasized the importance of developing drought-tolerant wheat varieties to see better yields in tough seasons.
Alison Bentley spoke with Grain Central about CIMMYT’s breeding strategy and the use of CIMMYT germplasm in the Australian wheat-growing industry.
Nigeria’s National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) has approved the commercialization of TELA Maize seeds—a drought-tolerant and insect-protected variety aimed at enhancing food security in sub-Saharan Africa.
The TELA Maize Project in Nigeria is part of an international consortium coordinated by the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), and the National Agricultural Research Systems of seven countries, including Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Read more: https://guardian.ng/news/fg-authorizes-deregulation-of-tela-maize-in-nigeria/
The Bangladeshi government is thinking of expanding the work of the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia-Mechanization Extension Activity (CSISA-MEA) project in Bogra, Jessore, Faridpur and Cox’s Bazar to the rest of the country.
The joint initiative, launched in October 2019 and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Feed the Future initiative, seeks to promote the mechanization of jute production across Bangladesh, among other issues.
Read more: https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2021/09/29/will-mechanization-boost-the-jute-sector
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), together with CIMMYT and partners, organized a State Level Maize Day in the state of Haryana to discuss sustainable maize production systems for future generations.
Read more: https://krishijagran.com/agriculture-world/icar-organized-state-level-maize-day-in-haryana/
The Indian researcher leads CIMMYT’s environmental analytics work in South Asia, combining field experimentation, participatory engagement and cropping systems modelling to address the region’s productivity and sustainability challenges in cereal systems.
Charles Sturt University (CSU) awarded him with the 2021 Alumnus of the Year title in Professional Achievement (Research) as part of its Foundation Day celebrations on July 21.
An international collaboration has discovered a biological nitrification inhibition (BNI) trait that, when transferred to growing wheat varieties, can reduce the use of fertilizers for wheat crops and increase yields.
Read more: https://phys.org/news/2021-09-nitrogen-efficient-wheats-food-greenhouse-gas.html
Ridder’s smart technology is used by CIMMYT scientists to develop wheat and maize varieties that boost production, prevent crop disease and improve smallholder farmers’ livelihood.
As extreme weather conditions increasingly threaten the global wheat supply, CIMMYT head of wheat physiology Matthew Reynolds discusses the importance of developing drought-resistant crops through breeding programs to keep bread on the table.
Read more: https://mashable.com/article/bread-wheat-climate-change
A recent study of the groundwater in India revealed that, by 2025, large areas of the north-western and southern parts of the country will have “critically low groundwater availability”, leading to a decrease in cropping that will ultimately cause an imbalance in the food security for millions.
A list of women leaders in STEM features Evangelina Villegas—a plant chemist at CIMMYT during its early days whose ground-breaking work on quality protein maize (QPM) helped combat malnutrition among developing communities worldwide.
Read more: https://hellogiggles.com/lifestyle/women-scientists-in-history/
The Board of Trustees appointed Bram Govaerts, renowned for pioneering, implementing and inspiring transformational changes for farmers and consumers in meeting sustainable development challenges, as Director General of CIMMYT.
A paper titled “Fields on fire: Alternatives to crop residue burning in India” and published in the prestigious journal Science found that working with the Happy Seeder—a machine that cuts and lifts the paddy straw while simultaneously sowing the wheat crop and spreading the cut straw as mulch over fields—is not just the least polluting, but also the most scalable solution that can be adopted by farmers en masse.