The International Maize Improvement Consortium for Latin America (IMIC-LatAm) promotes the sustainable development of the Latin American maize seed industry.

The Consortium is a partnership formed by CIMMYT and member institutions — including seed companies and national research programs — to achieve enhanced maize yields in Latin America.

IMIC-LatAm formalizes the sharing of maize lines under development with public and private maize breeding programs. It supports a vibrant germplasm testing network, offering opportunities for training and cross-learning among members. It also grants access to other special services offered by CIMMYT in Latin America, including maize quality analysis, doubled haploid development and molecular quality assurance/quality control.

The provision of early generation or advanced maize lines enhances the Consortium members’ capacity for germplasm development in their own breeding programs, including the collaborative establishment of multi-location testing of elite pre-commercial maize hybrids throughout Mexico and other countries in Latin America to identify products that can advance to commercialization and deployment.

Objectives:

• Diversification of the germplasm base of members’ maize breeding programs through distribution of CIMMYT-derived lines-under-development
• Strengthen members’ capacity to develop maize hybrid products through a participatory, multi-location hybrid evaluation network
• Build the capacity of members’ maize breeding programs by providing training to their staff on prioritized technical areas related to maize breeding, seed production and marketing
• Support members’ maize breeding programs by improving their access to value-added services provided by CIMMYT