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Defining priorities for quality research in native maize

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DSC_0127In order to define the research priorities for the Seeds of Discovery initiative in maize quality of landraces (a Strategic Initiative of both CRPs MAIZE and WHEAT funded by Mexico), a diverse group of food scientists, chemists, maize breeders, genebank curators, social scientists, and representatives of research institutions such as UNAM and Chapingo, met for a workshop to discuss future research on quality characteristics within native Mexican maize.

Held during 23-24 April 2012, at MansiĂłn del Quijote, the workshop recognized the need to preserve cultural customs and identify market niches in order to ensure the conservation and use of germplasm. Many native maize landraces are grown by farmers for specific culinary uses. Tlayudas, for example, are normally prepared using native maize from Raza bolita, whilst Pozole is only prepared with pozolero maize belonging to the ancho, cacahuacintle, and eloteros occidentales races. These culinary and cultural niches are not easily filled by standard
commercial hybrids.

The workshop was organized by Martha Willcox (Genetic Resources Program) and Natalia Palacios (Global Maize Program). “We wanted to prioritize specific uses and areas of research,” said Natalia Palacios. “By discussing state of the art research on quality, germplasm conservation
and characterization, and the uses and applications of landraces, we were able to identify some starting points for further research,” she added. Whilst a great deal of work has focused on landrace quality, much of this research has gone undocumented. Therefore, one of the key focuses for 2012 will be on data analysis, documentation, and publication.

“Overall, we hope to identify and characterize accessions with exceptional quality parameters to be used in breeding, both at the landrace level and to introgress into improved breeding lines, in order to provide an economic benefit to farmers,” stated Martha Willcox.

Pakistan and CIMMYT: The center says “Khush Aamdeed” (warm welcome) to a distinguished delegation

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Grupo-enmabada-Pakistan-sin-logoThe strength and breadth of the fruitful five-decade partnership between Pakistan and CIMMYT have grown significantly in recent years: this was one conclusion from the visit to CIMMYT on 29 May 2012 of a 12-member team of senior civil servants, ambassadors, and corporate executives from Pakistan.

The event was one leg of a foreign study tour by the group, as part of the 96th National Management Course given by the government of Pakistan’s National Management College. Designed to sensitize participants in public policy formulation and implementation, diplomacy, and external and bilateral relations, the tour’s stop at El Batán gave the visitors a broadbrush overview of Pakistan and CIMMYT’s shared history, of global challenges to food security, and how our current and future partnerships address them.

As emerged in the CIMMYT presentations, Pakistani policymakers, researchers, and farmers played a key role in the Green Revolution. In 1961 as part of his work with Norman Borlaug, Pakistani FAO trainee Manzoor Bajwa (later Director General of Pakistan’s AYUB Agricultural Research Institute) selected Mexipak, a high-yielding wheat that would eventually become the country’s most popular variety. In 1966, Pakistan imported 41,000 tons of Mexipak seed from Mexico and, only two years later, harvested 7 million tons of wheat, making it the first country in Asia to achieve self sufficiency for the crop. Sixty percent of the wheat seed to be sown in Pakistan this year comes from direct CIMMYT selections, and at least half the improved maize varieties grown are derived from joint Pakistan-CIMMYT breeding research. In the late 1990s-early 2000s, with CIMMYT support, Pakistan researchers helped launch conservation agriculture in South Asia.

From our shared history, the discussions moved to challenges to food security for humanity and for individual nations like Pakistan, as well as solutions. On the latter, the visitors learned of the global alliances MAIZE and WHEAT and—as examples of country and regional initiatives— the Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture with Mexico, including the Wheat Yield Consortium and Seeds of Discovery project, and the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA). Despite having arrived in Mexico the previous day after more than 30 hours of travel, the visitors were attentive and inquisitive, with questions about CIMMYT’s policies on intellectual property, about genetically-modified crops, about small-scale farmers’ access to improved seed and the role of transnational seed companies, and about the rationale for research on wheat photosynthesis, to name a few topics.

There was an excellent presentation on legal aspects of the Pakistan-CIMMYT partnership and on the germplasm bank. Four Norman Borlaug Fellows (a program funded by USDA) from Pakistan accompanied the visitors for lunch, where talk touched upon how to improve practical aspects of the Pakistan-CIMMYT partnership. “We came here to learn,” said Ahmed Yar Khan, Director General of the National School of Public Policy, “and we have learned many things. We’ll certainly take back the messages we’ve heard to our colleagues in Pakistan.” CIMMYT also took the opportunity to thank the Embassy of Pakistan in Mexico for its typically excellent assistance in organizing the visit and arranging visas.

CIMMYT director general Thomas Lumpkin, who was traveling in South Asia at the time, was pleased to hear the visit went well and thanked everyone involved: “I am sure that Dr. Borlaug would be smiling, knowing that we are making good progress to rebuild a relationship with a country that was so important to him.”

Genetic resources information and analytical system (GRIS) for wheat and triticale

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20120509_120632GRIS (http://wheatpedigree.net) is designed to study the diversity of wheat through analysis of pedigrees, and provides information services for breeding and research programs. The database contains pedigree and genetic allele information on 160,000 genotypes (varieties and breeding lines). All data are accompanied by standardized reference citations.

The author of the GRIS database, Sergey Martynov of Vavilov Research Institute, and programmer of the web application Dmitriy Dobrotvorskyi, recently met in Istanbul with a group of CIMMYT scientists involved in the development of Wheat Atlas, Rust Spore and IWIS-bib, to discuss collaboration on further development of these web-based tools. The key outputs of the meeting were agreements on (1) incorporation of the GRIS search into the Wheat Atlas and (2) further development of web-based modules to broaden the use of GRIS to conduct various genealogical and statistical analyses. Compatibility of GRIS with external statistical software (ANOVA, various algorithms of cluster analysis, etc.) is also considered essential in order to extend the opportunities for use of GRIS.

Thanks go to the CIMMYT-Turkey office, and to Alexei Morgounov in particular for facilitating this meeting.

Honing skills in scientific writing for publishing

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107_7608writing-workshopHave you ever wondered why the papers you have written on a piece of innovative research are rejected by your target peer-reviewed journals, or why your colleagues in similar projects are publishing with less difficulty? It could be that you are not writing in a style that is acceptable by the journals. For this reason Insect Resistant Maize for Africa (IRMA) and its sister project Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) have been conducting annual scientific writing workshops for their project scientists and students based in Nairobi. This year’s IRMA/WEMA Writing Workshop, which was attended by 15 participants, was held in Nakuru, Kenya during 07–11 May 2012.

The objectives of the workshop were to: train the participants on how to write scientific papers; demonstrate how to write technical papers in English; break down the process of journal choice, submission, reviews, and publication; provide assistance in completing manuscripts; and to draft new technical papers.

Stephen Mugo, principal scientist, Global Maize Program (GMP) and the IRMA/WEMA team leader, notes that publishing is the most effective way to disseminate research findings to fellow researchers, extension and development agents, and farmers. It is the best way to advance science and also provides an opportunity to account for resources provided by donors. GMP scientists are encouraged to publish at least one or two articles per year.

Reiterating the importance of publishing, maize breeder Biswanath Das of the Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS) project stated, “Considering that we are working in public institutions, we have an obligation to share our research findings.” He was one of the scientists outside the IRMA and WEMA projects who were attracted to the writing workshop. There are plans to expand participation in the workshop to include more scientists from other CIMMYT projects in Kenya.

Mugo noted that the workshop is particularly important in training young professionals and students in scientific writing. This kind of retreat is a sure way of getting publications out in the shortest time possible.

Indeed, the number of papers published in peer reviewed journals is steadily increasing, from six in 2010—when the projects held their first writing workshop—to 16 in 2011. By the end of April 2012, seven papers had been published. Another six papers have been submitted to various journals, while 23 more are being drafted with authors promising to submit by the end of July this year.

For Murenga Mwimali, a PhD student, the workshop provided him with an opportunity to sharpen his skills in scientific writing. It was also an opportunity for him to consolidate data findings and to write papers based on research done within the IRMA/WEMA projects.

The workshop was facilitated by Stephen Mugo and Liz Lucas, consulting copy editor. They would like to thank Hugo De Groote for his work in compiling resources for these workshops.

Nepal farmers like rust resistant wheat

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DSC02555On 14 May 2012, at Tikathali, Changathali Village Development Committee Centre (VDC) in Lalitpur, around 30 participants from MoA, NARC, seed companies, and CIMMYT were joined by 61 farmers (43 female, 18 male) and several graduate students and technicians. The event also saw active participation from senior district agriculture development officers from Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, and Kathmandu as well as the Crop Development Directorate of Nepal and the Seed Quality Control Center.

After a brief introduction, the farmers were led on a field tour by Maiya Maharjan Saligram, the head of the Loktantrik Integrated Pest Management Group in Changathali. Here they were shown the wheat plots and given detailed information about the characteristics of each variety, such as maturity class, yield potential, and disease resistance.They were split into four groups and asked to evaluate six varieties and two checks, which they then ranked one to eight according to individual performance.

Back at the VDC, NARC’s senior plant pathologist Sarala Sharma said that with active awareness among farmers, wheat breeders, and pathologists, Nepal is fully prepared to face the possible arrival of the stem rust race Ug99 because resistant varieties are already in farmers’ fields. She also described how positive the PVS approach has been over recent years; not only has there been a rapid increase in adoption rates of new varieties, but there has also been a remarkable reduction in yellow rust. Madan Bhatta, chief of NARC’s germplasm division, also endorsed the PVS approach, while Dilaram Bhandari from Seed Quality Control suggested that small-scale farmers should work together to develop an effective seed producers organization. The farmers were further encouraged by Suroj Pokhrel, director of the Crop Development Directorate, and Yubak Dhoj G.C. from the Plant Protection Directorate, who assured them that their suggestions are extremely important.

The farmers themselves were very happy with the event, saying that by sharing experiences with each other, they were building confidence in their own ability to manage wheat diseases, seed production, and profitability. They were particularly enthusiastic about strengthening their groups to share new technology and seed varieties, with the female farmers especially motivated. Through PVS, farmers have widened the coverage of rust resistant varieties, tested new options, and gradually replaced older, lower-yielding varieties, thus increasing production and productivity. With the new varieties, the farmers expected a 10% yield increase.

Other participants included Hira Kaji Manandhar from the plant pathology division at the National Agriculture Research Institute (NARI) of NARC, NARC scientist D.B. Thapa; NARC crops and horticulture director Yagya Prasad Giri; CIMMYT’s regional wheat breeder Arun Joshi; and lead farmer Dhana Maharjan.

CIMMYT team wins CCAFS recognition

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On 29 April, CIMMYT had a double reason to celebrate, picking up the award for “Best gender paper” and “Best science paper” (along with Bioversity), at the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) Science Conference in Copenhagen. The conference was part of a series of CCAFS meetings held from 29 April – 02 May, and was attended by various CIMMYT staff.

The best gender paper, titled ‘Adoption of Agricultural Technologies in Kenya: How Does Gender Matter?’ and co-authored by Simon Wagura Ndiritu, Menale Kassie and Bekele Shiferaw, highlighted the differences between technologies adopted on female- and male-managed farm plots in Kenya. They found that whilst there were gender differences in the adoption of technologies such as the use of animal manure, soil and water conservation, other differences in the use of chemical fertilizers and improved seed may stem from the varying levels of access to resources for men and women, rather than gender itself. “This recognition inspires me to put more effort to produce more quality research that will bring excellent distinction to CIMMYT and myself,” said Kassie, while Ndiritu said “it is an encouragement to a young scientist,” adding that he is looking forward to having the paper published.

The winning science paper, ‘Assessing the vulnerability of traditional maize seed systems in Mexico to climate change’, was authored by David Hodson (FAO), and Mauricio Bellon (Bioversity) and Jonathan Hellin from CIMMYT. With climate change models predicting significant impacts in Mexico and Central America, particularly during the maize growing season (May – October), the paper assessed the capacity of traditional maize seed systems to provide farmers with appropriate genetic material, under the anticipated agro-ecological conditions. Their results indicated that whilst most farmers will have easy access to appropriate seed in the future, those in the highlands will be more vulnerable to climate change and are likely to have to source seed from outside their traditional supplies, entailing significant additional costs and changes to the traditional supply chain.

DSC_1848To share the good news, the Socioeconomics program hosted a get-together with the team in Nairobi, Kenya. During the cake cutting ceremony, the best gender paper award was dedicated to women farmers from Embu and Kakamega in Kenya’s Eastern and Western Provinces, where the data was collected. The Nairobi team also took the opportunity to initiate monthly seminars in order to share research findings hosted by the Global Maize Program and the Socioeconomics program and promote regular interaction among the team. The program directors, Bekele Shiferaw and B. M. Prasanna nominated Dan Makumbi, Hugo De Groote, Sika Gbegbelegbe, Fred Kanampiu, and Sarah Kibera, to form the organizing committee for the seminars.

Celebrating Africa Day

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Africa is not just a food security problem, it is a critical part of the solution. Agriculture will be key to the future of Africa—and Africa, with its enormous potential, will play a decisive role in the future of agriculture and global food security.

This Africa Day, 25 May 2012, we celebrate CIMMYT’s work in Africa and the critical role and vision of African scientists, policymakers, and farmers.  Check out our new CIMMYT in Africa webpage, packed with stories, images, videos, events, publications and more, at: http://staging.cimmyt.org/en/cimmyt-in-africa.

Congratulations and happy Africa Day to all our African colleagues and friends!

21st anniversary of NARC celebrated in Nepal

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On 07 May 2012, the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) celebrated its 21st Anniversary in Kathmandu. Chief Guest, Barsha Man Pun, Ministerdesignate and representative of the Honorable Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, inaugurated the opening ceremony. Other Government authorities such as Dipendra Bahadur Kshetry, Vice Chairman of the National Planning Commission, Nathu Prasad Chaudhary, Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MoAC), and Dil Bahadur Gurung, NARC Executive Director, were also among the high level officials attending the celebration. CIMMYT-Nepal was represented by G. Ortiz-Ferrara, Country Liaison Officer, Arun K. Joshi, Head of Administration, and Nirmal Gadal, Agronomist.

NEPAL55The gathering brought together more than 275 scientists and development workers. “The Nepal Government is planning to raise the budget for agriculture significantly in the upcoming national budget plan” said Pun. “There is also a need to adopt enhanced technology to double agricultural production and to attract youth to the sector,” he added. Pun also mentioned that “the Prime Minister and his Government are committed to giving top priority to farming as it is the only way to alleviate poverty and ensure employment for a larger section of society”.

Kshetry stated that “in the next Governmental fiscal year, NARC and MoAC have plans to deploy large numbers of agricultural scientists and technicians in all 75 districts of the country to address farming and farmers’ problems.” Whilst Gurung highlighted that “the low seed replacement rate is one of the major factors affecting farm productivity and output. Similarly, around 70% of the farmland in the country is not irrigated and they depend on the mercy of the sky”.

On behalf of CIMMYT’s Director General, the Management, and of the CIMMYT colleagues who have worked in Nepal over the past 27 years, Ortiz-Ferrara congratulated NARC on its anniversary and thanked the Government of Nepal for their strong partnership and for hosting the South Asia regional office. He took the opportunity to brief the audience about the Nepal Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) concept discussed with the management of NARC by Director General Thomas Lumpkin, during his recent visit to Nepal. “The strategic objective of BISA in Nepal is to enable NARC, CIMMYT, and its partners to deliver greater impact toward food security and livelihoods in the country,” said Ortiz-Ferrara. He also highlighted the strong endorsement given to the BISA India by the Honorable Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh and the Government of India.

In their closing remarks, Pun and Kshetry expressed the Government of Nepal’s strong interest and unconditional support for a BISA-Nepal. “Nepal is a poor country, but we have a good heart, we fully support this initiative” said Gurung. NARC and CIMMYT-Nepal scientists are currently having strategic meetings to develop a proposal and plan of action to make BISA-Nepal a reality.

Zhonghu He becomes a CIMMYT Distinguished Scientist

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During his visit to the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) in China, Director General Thomas Lumpkin took the opportunity to make a very special announcement – the promotion of Zhonghu He to CIMMYT Distinguished Scientist. He now joins an illustrious group of past and present CIMMYT Distinguished Scientists: Mujeeb Kazi, Sanjaya Rajaram, Surinder K. Vasal, Ravi Singh, Jose Crossa, and Hugo Córdova.

He first joined CIMMYT as a post-doctoral scientist from 1990-92, before coming back to lead the China office when it first opened in 1997. In the subsequent 15 years He used his connections with CAAS to successfully establish a CIMMYT-CAAS wheat improvement program that is now highly recognized in China and worldwide for its significant achievements in varietal development, quality testing technology, molecular marker development and application, and training. In addition, He has authored 219 refereed journal articles in the last eight years alone, including publications in Crop Science, Euphytica, Journal of Cereal Science, and Journal of Theoretical and Applied Genetics.

Upon receiving the news of his promotion, He said: “Becoming a Distinguished Scientist was beyond my dreams ten years ago. It is a great honor, not only for me but also for my program and my fellow scientists and support staff. I am very grateful for the support and encouragement received from our colleagues at CIMMYT and CAAS, and thanks also to our collaborators in China and worldwide.”

Congratulations He and good luck in your new appointment.

Looking to the future with CAAS and China

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the-chinese-academy1Whilst Director General Thomas Lumpkin is in China meeting with the ex- and current Presidents of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) in Beijing, a delegation of six CAAS representatives took the opportunity to come to El BatĂĄn to discuss collaborations between CIMMYT and China and opportunities for future projects. Li Jinxiang, Vice President, Ye Zhihua, Director General of the Institute of Quality Standard and Testing Technology for Agro-Products, Chen Wanquan, Director Generation of the Institute of Plant Protection, Li Sijing, Vice President of the Graduate School, Niu Liping, Deputy Director General of the Logistic Service Center, and Wang Jing, Project Officer of the Department of International Cooperation of CAAS visited CIMMYT while in Mexico for the G20 meetings.

Director of Research and Partnerships, Marianne BĂ€nziger, presented on behalf of Lumpkin, highlighting that CIMMYT “benefits from a very strong contribution from China, not only in terms of partnerships, but also from Chinese students”. Seven students from China completing their PhD research at CIMMYT were also on hand to welcome the visitors and discuss their work.

In recent years, China’s largest crop has switched from rice to maize. Last year, 192 million tons of maize was harvested, but despite this record yield, China still needed to import 2 million tons of maize from the US alone. This deficit is partially due to increasing levels of meat consumption in China; per capita consumption of pork is expected to reach 38kg this year and a bad harvest could result in food shortages and price hikes worldwide. For this reason maize yields are a high priority for CIMMYT and maize breeder FĂ©lix San Vicente presented CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program to the visitors.

China is also the world’s largest producer of wheat (producing 17% of total yield), though the 2011 harvest was heavily affected by drought. Etienne Duveiller, Associate Director of the Global Wheat Program, presented CIMMYT’s recent developments and discussed a particular area of interest, the Wheat Yield Consortium, with the delegation. Marianne BĂ€nziger reiterated “I think the WYC is one of the most incredible examples of international cooperation with 32 institutions working together to develop a strategy to raise wheat yields and meet the challenges ahead. We want to put wheat yields on track in order to sustain future generations”.

Globally, three countries produced half of the world’s grain last year –China, India, and the US. With 75 percent of the world’s spring wheat varieties and 50 percent of the developing world’s maize varieties coming from CIMMYT, partnerships with these key grain producing countries are a high priority. As stated by Marianne Banziger, “CIMMYT would like to strengthen our partnership with China and be prepared to address the future. No group can do it alone.”

Ganesan Srinivasan continues to harvest success

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ganesanWe are delighted to hear that Ganesan Srinivasan has been appointed Dean of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Santa Rosa Junior College, California, USA.

Srinivasan joined CIMMYT in 1990 as a post-doctoral fellow. Over 15 years he headed the International Maize Testing Program, led the Highland Maize Program and later the Subtropical Maize Program, and, in 2000, became associate director of the Maize Program. He made important contributions in breeding improved, stress tolerant, and quality protein maize germplasm, and developed and released several CIMMYT Maize Lines (CMLs). In 2005 he left to become director of the University Agricultural Laboratory at California State University at Fresno, though he remains a member of CIMMYT’s extended family.

He takes up his new post on 31 May 2012. Congratulations Ganesan and we wish you every success!

CIMMYT’s Corporate Annual Report for 2010-11 is now available

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Entitled Acute awareness, bold action to energize agriculture, the report provides compelling highlights of the center’s work to sustainably increase the productivity of maize and wheat systems, thereby ensuring global food security and reducing poverty. There is also good mention of expanded support and partnerships through initiatives like BISA, and the CGIAR research programs MAIZE and WHEAT.

Please share the link above with your partners, stakeholders, or anyone else who might be interested. Print copies are being distributed to all CIMMYT offices, and more are available on request or at the publications window in El BatĂĄn, Mexico. Staff are encouraged to continue to send to Corporate Communications reports and presentations in all forms regarding the work you do, the people you work with, and shared accomplishments.

Tsedeke Abate joins CIMMYT as DTMA Project Leader

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Dr-Tsedeke-Abates-PhotoA citizen of Ethiopia, Tsedeke Abate joined CIMMYT Global Maize Program on 08 May 2012, and has taken over responsibilities from Wilfred Mwangi as the project leader of the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project. Abate will be based in Nairobi, Kenya. He obtained his BS and MS degrees in agriculture from the University of Florida, USA, and his PhD in biological sciences from Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada.

Abate has a wide range of productive and successful experience in leadership and management of agricultural research and development. As project coordinator, during 2008-12 he led the Tropical Legumes II project jointly implemented by ICRISAT, CIAT and IITA in Africa and South Asia. Prior to this Abate was the director general of the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR). He is also well known for his passion for putting agricultural knowledge into practical use—scaling-up and scaling-out improved technologies to impact the lives and livelihoods of smallholder farmers.

CIMMYT participates in EU Day exhibition in Nairobi

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EU-exhibitionAs part of European Union Day celebrations in Kenya, an exhibition to showcase research and development activities supported by the EU or its member states took place on 09 May 2012 at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) in Nairobi. CIMMYT was among 12 exhibitors participating and featured the projects Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA), Insect Resistant Maize for Africa (IRMA), Effective Grain Storage (EGS), Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS), and Sustainable Intensification of Maize-Legume Cropping System for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA). On display were cobs of CIMMYT and commercial maize hybrids harvested from drought stressed plots alongside cobs of the same hybrids from fully irrigated plots. Several CIMMYT publications were available for visitors.

Maize is a staple food in Kenya, so visitors to the stand were keen to know which varieties would thrive in their locales. Visitors also included people working in other agricultural research and development organizations, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) country director Erna Kerst. A component of the DTMA project focusing on heat stress is funded by USAID. CIMMYT was represented by Dan Makumbi, Titus Kosgei, and Florence Sipalla.

DTMA partners in West Africa gather for annual regional planning meeting

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DTMA-W.-Africa-meetingThe Regional Planning Meeting for phase III of the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project was held in Kumasi, Ghana, during the week of 16-19 April 2012. The objectives of this meeting were to (i) review and document progress on DTMA project activities conducted in West Africa in 2011, (ii) present, critically review, and approve project proposals submitted for funding by partner countries Benin Republic, Ghana, Mali, and Nigeria under phase III, and develop work plans for the 2012 cropping season. The regional meetings have proved instrumental in planning and monitoring of DTMA project activities and building the requisite partnerships for successful implementation of the project.

The meeting was attended by 26 participants, representing research institutions, national agricultural research system (NARS) partners, NGOs, and seed companies. NARS scientists from the partner countries presented 20 progress reports and received feedback. All the presenters highlighted the importance of engaging partners from diverse disciplines in successfully implementing project activities in their respective countries. Discussion sessions were devoted to peer-review of the four partner countries’ 2012 work plans on complementary breeding, seed production, regional trials, national performance, and on-farm trials, demonstrations and promotional activities.

After this, national group meetings were held to revise the work plans taking into consideration the input provided, and these were then presented during plenary sessions. During the meeting, it was reported that a total of 38 new drought tolerant maize varieties have so far been released, including seven hybrids, with a total of 1,057 metric tons of seed produced. The DTMA project, which is jointly led by CIMMYT and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), makes annual awards to the best teams in each region to motivate scientists and foster healthy competition among partner countries. An award committee consisting of a representative from each of the participating countries and two independent members convened during the planning meeting, and assessed achievements and progress made in 2011. Ghana received the award for the best technology promotion team award in West Africa, while Nigeria received the best breeding team award. The runners-up were the Malian team for technology promotion and Benin Republic for breeding. Hans Adu-Dapaah, director of the Ghanaian Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s Crops Research Institute (CSIR-CRI), presented the awards to the winning teams during the closing ceremony. IITA also presented CIMMYT’s Wilfred Mwangi with a plaque as a token of appreciation for his good leadership of the DTMA project in phases I and II.