A study by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), carried out in collaboration with Stanford and Cornell Universities, has shown that there is a sustainable way to increase food production already in the fields: microsatellites. Read more here (in Italian).
“We are talking about testing whether it is possible to use information available in the genome to predict how productive a variety of wheat will be, if it will be drought- or heat-resistant and what quality its grain will have,” explains Carlos Guzmán from the University of Cordoba who participated in the study via his work as head of the Chemistry and Wheat Quality Laboratory at CIMMYT in Mexico.
Read more here.
“The fields being currently burned mostly belong to farmers who harvested short-duration rice varieties. The slight rise in crop fire instances could be misleading as a much higher area than last year has been harvested so far, according to reports we are getting,” said M.L.Jat, principle scientist at CIMMYT, who is tracking farm fires. Read more here.
The Punjab government is working on war footing to curb farm fires ahead of the celebrations of 550 birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, but rising incidents of stubble burning in Pakistan, particularly near border areas of Punjab, have raised concern among scientists at Punjab remote sensing center (PRSC) and Punjab agricultural university (PAU).
Experts from Cornell and International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in a recent study ‘Tradeoffs Between Groundwater Conservation and Air Pollution From Agricultural Fires in Northwest India’ stated that pollution, particularly caused by stubble burning, leads to an estimated 16,000 premature deaths caused every year in New Delhi capital region, with an aggregate reduction in life expectancy of 6 years.
Read more here.
The meeting on the future of agriculture in Somalia, was attended by donors EU, USAID, JICA, UN agency FAO and CG centers CIFOR, ICRAF, CIAT, CIP, CIMMYT, ICRISAT, IITA, ILRI, IRRI, ICARDA and IFPRI.
Read more here.
William Penn University’s Health & Life Sciences Division welcomed students, staff, faculty, and community members at the annual World Food Prize lecture on Wednesday, Oct. 16.
This year’s speaker was Bram Govaerts, the global Director Innovative Business Strategies with CIMMYT. Read more here.
If plants are to adapt to a harsher climate, they must have genes that tolerate stress. Read more here.
An international team of scientists, including some from India, has found a way to breed wheat varieties that are of better quality and have a higher yield while also resisting diseases and the adverse effects of climate change. Read more here.
In July 2019 ICIMOD, along with its partners and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre in Mexico, launched a web-based Regional Drought Monitoring and Outlook System for South Asia – an integrated information platform linking weather and climate data with agriculture practices in South Asia. The system provides multiple indices for droughts and seasonal weather outlooks, besides maps and baseline. Read more here.
Around 10 years ago, CIMMYT began work on developing wheat with higher zinc and iron, under an initiative called HarvestPlus. CIMMYT has released eleven varieties of zinc wheat in India, which are also high-yielding and disease-resistant. Read more here.
Anne Wambui has been growing maize in her farm located in the upper eastern Kenyan county of Embu for three decades to cater for domestic consumption and sale in the nearby market.
During this period, she has relied on buying varieties from seed stockists that are either recommended by the agricultural extension officials or not necessarily varieties that she prefers to plant.
However, scientists at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) emphasized that farmers should be availed varieties that meet their varied needs.
Read more here.
After a visit to CIMMYT headquarters, germplasm bank and maize nutritional quality laboratory, the Indonesian Agency for Agricultural Research and Development is increasing cooperation in maize and wheat research with CIMMYT. Read more here.
Two hybrid wheat varieties that are resistant to stem rust disease are set to be released to Kenyan farmers later this year. Mandeep Randham, wheat breeder and geneticist at International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center said that the two varieties, ‘Kenya Jacana’ and ‘Kenya Kasuku’ have high yields and resistant to stem rust disease known as U99. Read more here.
By 2012, young Bangladeshi mechanic Md Ole Ullah was working with the USAID funded Agricultural Mechanization and Irrigation Project, implemented by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), and International Development Enterprises (iDE Bangladesh). The new collaboration helped Ole develop the market for his locally-manufactured machines. Read more here.
