A training workshop on the integrated International Maize Information System (IMIS)-Fieldbook platform was held for scientists, technicians, and research assistants in Nairobi, Kenya, on 05-06 August 2010. Similar training was held in Zimbabwe on 02-04 August, and will soon be given in Ethiopia. Héctor Sánchez, crop information specialist based at CIMMYT-Mexico, conducted the course, which was attended by participants from CIMMYT and two invited representatives from the Western Seed Company, a Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) Project partner.

The training included presentations on the basic use of IMIS and IMISFieldbook. The latter has all the utilities of Fieldbook software, as well as additional functions for management of genealogy, inventory, and data. Hands-on training sessions covered topics such as installing the software, generating inventories and analyses, seed preparation for trials and nurseries, adding information to the IMIS database, and managing pedigrees using Fieldbook.

“We can now code our germplasm numerically, and upload it into a local database, which can then be exported to MaizeFinder,” said Silvano Assanga, one of the participants. MaizeFinder is a program, accessible on the internet, where information on the germplasm available at CIMMYT and performance data can be obtained. “With this software, it will now be easy to trace the parentage of a pedigree by generating a genealogy tree to see how the material was developed,” Assanga said.

The software is available at http://dtma.cimmyt.org/index.php/software.

This year, the Conservation Agriculture (CA) Program in Mexico, CIMMYT’s host country, is participating in the 2010 Mexico Initiative. “Iniciativa México” is a venue for individuals, institutions, and organizations currently working for positive social or ecological change in Mexico to share their result-driven projects and initiatives. This is part of a nation-wide government initiative to celebrate the Bicentennial—signifying 200 years of Mexican independence — and to support national pride and social responsibility.

CIMMYT’s participation in this project originated from the passion Mexican farmers feel for their work and their love of the land, as well as their concern for the environment. Several farmers who collaborate with CIMMYT, practice CA, and are involved in CIMMYT’s CA Mexican hub project asked to be part of the Mexico Initiative in order to share the socioeconomic and environmental benefits they have gained by embracing CA crop practices.

The Mexico Initiative is asking the general public to express their support for the projects they prefer. You do this by visiting the website (http://www.iniciativamexico.org/registro.php) and registering some basic information (name, birthday, email). Then, you are given five “hearts” to distribute among the projects you think have the most potential. To find CIMMYT’s CA project, enter the keywords “Nodos de Agricultura Conservación” (Conservation Agriculture Hubs) into the search feature on the left-hand side of the webpage. To donate one or all of your hearts, click the “Detalles” link, and you will then be taken to a page where you can donate your hearts, share the project, send a message, or comment on the project. Projects that receive the most votes will receive the most visibility on the website—so be sure to share this CA project via your own social media networks! Final winners will be announced on 22 August 2010 and will receive funding and training support.

From 01-06 July 2010 two courses took place at the Colombian National Agricultural Research Organization Colombian Corporation for Agricultural Research (CORPOICA) La Libertad Research Center in the city of Villavicencio.

There were more than 30 participants from different public and private sector organizations, including FENALCE, CORPOICA, UNILLANOS, SEMIVALLE, CENICAFE, CIMMYT, and Universidad ICESI. Both courses were possible thanks to the support of the Colombian Agriculture Ministry, as part of the project “Development of maize germplasm tolerant to acid soils for the Oriental Plains of Colombia,” in partnership with CIMMYT.

An advanced maize breeding course covered subjects such as doubled haploid technologies, screening, quantitative genetics, hybridization, molecular markers, and precision agriculture, and was taught by CIMMYT’s George Mahuku and Luis Narro, FENALCE’s José Ever Vargas Sánchez, and Argemiro Miguel Moreno Berrocal of CENICAFE. A statistics workshop, given by Norbey Marín Arredondo, consultant statistician and professor at Universidad ICESI, introduced participants to the use of SAS in experimental design    and analysis.

Both events received favorable reviews from the participants. FENALCE’s Luis Hernando Arévalo said that for him, and for several of his colleagues, the course had been like an “accelerated graduate degree” and that more courses like these should be given. CORPOICA’s Claudia Calderón reported that the new breeding and statistics tools she learned will enable her to work more efficiently. Finally, FENALCE’s general manager Henry Vanegas suggested that similar courses should be organized in more locations in Colombia to benefit more people.

In addition to being a major staple food, maize is important in many indigenous Mexican cultures. Staff at CIMMYT-El Bátan had the opportunity to learn about the relationship between maize and native culture during a fascinating on-campus presentation on 02 July 2010. Anthropologists Carmen Morales of the National Institute of Anthropology and History, and Catalina Rodíguez-Lazcano of the National Museum of Anthropology and History jointly presented “Knowledge and festivals around native corn,” which was translated from Spanish into English so everyone could attend.

The seminar drew on the presenters’ studies of three very distinct indigenous groups—the Chen, Mayan descendents who live in the state of Campeche; the Purépecha, who live in Michoacán State; and the inhabitants of Milpa Alta, an entity within the borders of Mexico City. The two experts outlined traditions and festivals based around maize, complemented by color photographs from each location illustrating local settings and customs, grain storage methods, variety types, end-use products, and indigenous nomenclature for the maize plant and its parts. As is common in south-central and southeastern Mexico, farm settings are diverse and challenging, and most producers are subsistence smallholders who grow maize more for tradition and home use than for income.

Among the points highlighted were the close connections between native maize races and local foods and traditions, and the importance of culture in the preservation of those races. In Purépecha villages, the crop cycle coincides closely with the calendar of Catholic religious ceremonies: seed is brought to the church to be blessed before sowing, and on one religious feast day after harvest, seed is thrown to the sky beseeching God to rain bounty back down upon the community. The value of kernel color for the Purépecha was depicted through beautiful and informative photographs of brightly-colored maize cobs from the region.

There were several surprises as well. In northern Campeche, the influence of Menonite immigrants has led many maize farmers to grow commercial hybrids with agrochemicals, bringing them yields as high as seven tons per hectare. It was interesting to learn that part-time farmers in Milpa Alta, a semi-rural, high-altitude zone of the swelling metropolis (18 million inhabitants!) of Mexico City, still conserve the Aztec language Nahuatl and grow native maize races.

The seminar concluded with a question and answer session, and Director General Tom Lumpkin expressed hope of further collaboration between CIMMYT and Mexico City’s Anthropology Museum.

On 28 June 2010, 15 participants from various CIMMYT units and departments attended a one-day workshop given by the CIMMYT web team. Held at El Batán, the event covered the basic uses of Joomla—a content management system for websites and Intranets. Content management systems are designed primarily for interactive use, potentially by a large number of contributors.

With the new CIMMYT website, interior pages will be maintained by unit-selected managers and administrators with support from Corporate Communications. Additionally, the Intranet is now integrated within the new CIMMYT website and will be accessible to those with CIMMYT credentials.

The workshop was designed to equip these persons with the knowledge and tools to manage their unit’s information. Exercises covered uploading or updating information, inserting images and documents, creating links, and editing existing information. Participants also learned how to keep the website running smoothly by only uploading “clean” text and images of appropriate size.

Several participants said that the knowledge gained will allow them to manage web information in the future. A few requested additional training on menu and table management. To address these and other issues, more training sessions will be scheduled, including events for web section administrators outside of El Batán. The web team offered their ongoing assistance.

United for sports: this was the theme of Sports Day held at CIMMYT’s El Batán campus on 18 June 2010. Teams from the Mexican CIMMYT stations (Agua Fría, Obregón, Tlatizapán, Toluca, El Batán) congregated for a day of team competition in volleyball, soccer, and basketball. Individuals also competed in a 5 km walking race, a mini-marathon, cycling, and swimming. A tennis tournament was also held, with the double sets displaying CIMMYT’s multicultural nature at its best.

Away from the mainstream sports, there were recreational games: wrap the mummy, egg and spoon race, pop-the-balloon, sack race, egg-tossing, a dizzy race, and an interesting twist on the three-legged race using a four-man team. The competitors in these games formed international teams and united in silly fun. Aerobics and zumba (a type of dance) performances were held in the gymnasium, cheered on by an animated audience.

Even cleaning up was fun! Environmentally aware two-member teams competed to see who could fill up a sack with plastic bottles in the shortest amount of time. The winning team was awarded, and everyone else was a winner for contributing to the impromptu clean-up campaign.

After all that activity, everyone was hungry and enjoyed a provided lunch, which was accompanied by an award ceremony for the winners of the day’s events. Dancing followed dining. There were various performances, including salsa and Los Chinelos, a traditional dance from the state of Morelos, Mexico. Then it was time for everyone else to take to the dance floor, where they grooved to the beats of the band Adrián y sus teclados (Adrian and His Keyboard), which featured CIMMYT’s very own Ricardo De La Rosa (head of audiovisuals) on the bass. And at the end of the day, there was more dancing, accompanied by a live Cuban band, at El Rincón.