Tag: tribute

EL BATAN, Mexico (CIMMYT) – Paula Kantor had an exceptionally sharp, analytical mind and a deep understanding of how change can empower men and women to give them greater control over their own lives, helping them shape their future direction, said a former colleague.

Kantor, a gender and development specialist working with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), died tragically on May 13 at age 46, in the aftermath of a Taliban attack on the hotel where she was staying in Kabul, Afghanistan.

At the time, she was working on a new CIMMYT research project focused on understanding the role of gender in the livelihoods of people in major wheat-growing areas of Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Pakistan.

The aim of the three-year project, supported by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), is to find out how wheat research-and-development can contribute to gender equality in conservative contexts so that, in turn, gender equality can contribute more to overall development.

“Paula’s research was targeting a very large populace facing serious threats to both food security and gender equality,” said Lone Badstue, gender specialist at CIMMYT, an international research organization, which works to sustainably increase the productivity of maize and wheat to ensure global food security, improve livelihoods and reduce poverty.

“Paula had vast experience – she spent most of her working life in these contexts – in very patriarchal societies – and had a great love for the people living in these regions. She also had a deep understanding of what she felt needed to change so that both men and women could have a better chance to influence their own lives and choose their own path.”

Kantor, a U.S. citizen, was no stranger to Afghanistan. Several years before joining CIMMYT, she had been based in Kabul where she worked as director and manager of the gender and livelihoods research portfolios at the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU), an independent research agency, from 2008 to 2010.

The project Kantor was working on at the time of her death builds on the idea that research and development interventions should be informed by a socio-cultural understanding of context and local experience, Badstue said.

Ultimately, this approach lays the groundwork for a more effective, equitable development process with positive benefits for all, she added.

WHEAT AND GENDER

Globally, wheat is vital to food security, providing 20 percent of calories and protein consumed, research shows. In Afghanistan, wheat provides more than half of the food supply, based on a daily caloric intake of 2,500 calories, while in Pakistan wheat provides more than a third of food supply, and in Ethiopia it provides about 13 percent of calories, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Global Food Security Index. These data do not reflect gender disparity with regard to food access.

In Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Pakistan, the central role of wheat in providing food security makes it an important part of political stability. Overall, gender inequality and social disparities have a negative impact on general economic growth, development, food security and nutrition in much of the developing world, but particularly in these three countries, Badstue said.

Women make up between 32 to 45 percent of economically active people in agriculture in the three countries, which are classified by the U.N. Development Programme’s Gender Inequality Index in the “low human development” category.

Although women play a crucial role in farming and food production, they often face greater constraints in agricultural production than men, Badstue added.

Additionally, rural women are less likely than men to own land or livestock, adopt new technologies, access credit, financial services, or receive education or extension advice, according to the FAO.

Globally, if women had the same access to agricultural production resources as men, they could increase crop yields by up to 30 percent, which would raise total agricultural output in developing countries by as much as 4 percent, reducing the number of hungry people by up to 150 million or 17 percent, FAO statistics show.

“Addressing gender disparities between women and men farmers in the developing world offers significant development potential,” Badstue said.

“Improvements in gender equality often lead to enhanced economic efficiency and such other beneficial development outcomes as improved access to food, nutrition, and education in families.”

METICULOUS RESEARCHER

Paula was brilliant,” Badstue said. “She had a clear edge. She was someone who insisted on excellence methodologically and analytically. She was very well equipped to research issues in this context because of her extensive experience in Afghanistan, as well as her considerate and respectful manner.”

Kantor’s involvement in “Gennovate,” a collaborative, comparative research initiative by gender researchers from a series of international agricultural research centers, was also critical, Badstue said.

The group focuses on understanding gender norms and how they influence the ability of people to access, try out, adopt or adapt new agricultural technology. Kantor provided key analytical and theoretical guidance, inspiring the group to take action and ensure that Gennovate took hold.

Kantor’s work went beyond a focus on solving practical problems to explore underlying power differences within the family or at a local level.

“Agricultural technology that makes day-to-day work in the field easier is crucial, but if it doesn’t change your overall position, if it doesn’t give you a voice, then it changes an aspect of your life without addressing underlying power dynamics,” Badstue said.

“Paula was trying to facilitate lasting change – she wasn’t banging a particular agenda, trying to force people into a particular mind-set. She was really interested in finding the space for manoeuver and the agency of every individual to decide what direction to take in their own life. She was a humanist and highly respected throughout the gender-research community.”

Before joining CIMMYT, Kantor served as a senior gender scientist with the CGIAR’s WorldFish organization for three years from 2012. She also worked at the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) in Washington, D.C., developing intervention research programs in the area of gender and rural livelihoods, including a focus on gender and agricultural value chains.

A funeral mass will be held for Paula Kantor at 11 a.m. on June 11, 2015 at St Leo the Great Catholic Church in Winston Salem, North Carolina. 

CIMMYT will hold a memorial service for Paula Kantor on Friday, June 12, 2015 at 12:30 p.m. at its El Batan headquarters near Mexico City. 

The CIMMYT community celebrates the illustrious life and mourns the passing on 11 December of Wilfred M. Mwangi, distinguished Kenyan scholar, statesman and researcher who dedicated his career to improving the food security and livelihoods of farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. In 27 years at CIMMYT, Mwangi made significant contributions both as a principal scientist and distinguished economist with authorship on nearly 200 publications, as well as country and regional liaison officer, associate director of the global maize program, leader of the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project and CIMMYT regional representative for Africa.

“He served CIMMYT with distinction for decades and was enormously important in promoting smallholder maize research in Africa,” said Derek Byerlee, retired World Bank policy researcher who led CIMMYT’s socioeconomics team in the late 1980s-early 90s and recruited Mwangi. “Even more, he was a great human being who was highly-respected throughout the region. Africa and the world are poorer for his loss.”

“My Mother Still Tells Me How to Farm”

Born in 1947, Mwangi grew up in Nakuru County, Kenya. He completed a B.A. in Economics and Rural Economy at Makerere University, Uganda, in 1972 and M.A. and Ph.D. studies in Agricultural and Development Economics at Michigan State University (MSU) in 1975 and 1978. Returning to Kenya, Mwangi eventually became a Professor and Chair of the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Nairobi. He joined CIMMYT in 1987.

His career included stints as Deputy Permanent Secretary and Director of Agriculture and Livestock Production in Kenya’s Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, and as a World Bank economist. As Deputy Permanent Secretary, he served as part of a “dream team” of eminent figures convened in 1999 by Richard Leakey, then head of the Kenya Wildlife Service, at the behest of President Daniel arap Moi, to help reform government administration and procedures.

Mwangi’s research at CIMMYT analyzed Africa’s seed sector and farm input markets and measured and explained the adoption of improved crop varieties and practices, particularly characterizing the concerns and decisions of rural households. He contributed on several occasions to CIMMYT’s popular “Facts and Trends” series on wheat and maize research and global markets. In 2006 he was named Honorary Life Member by the International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE).

With typical modesty and humor, Mwangi once observed that: “Despite all my academic expertise and impressive career, my mother still tells me how to farm.”

Messages Praise a Legacy of Leadership, Mentoring and Passion

Knowledgeable in politics and with prominent policy contacts, Mwangi provided untiring and invaluable support for CIMMYT’s Africa-based partnerships and work to develop and promote better maize and wheat crop varieties and farming systems, particularly to benefit of the region’s hundreds of millions of smallholder farmers. “We have such a noble mission,” he once said, describing his love for his work at CIMMYT. “This is a calling; you’re working for the poorest of the poor.”

Mwangi mentored hundreds of young, national program scientists from Africa and elsewhere. He was particularly effective arguing in policy circles for a focus on small-scale farmers and improved agriculture to foster development, according to Thomas A. Lumpkin, CIMMYT director general: “Wilf put on a formal air when engaging his numerous high-level contacts throughout Africa, but it was easy to see through to his practicality and passion for serving resource-poor farmers. He touched the hearts of many, and many share the grief that he is no longer among us.”

Messages praising Mwangi’s life work have poured in from Africa and around the globe. “Wilfred was a straight, no-nonsense person whose door was always open to share ideas and provide advice,” said Richard B. Jones, Chief of Party for the “Scaling Seeds and Technologies Partnership” of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). “He was passionate about his work and was always generous in praise of others who supported his mission.”

Mwangi would often express his dedication and wisdom in pointed insights to kindle change and ambitious action, according to Lumpkin. “Someone once said that leaders should be able to motivate and mentor and above all, leave a legacy,” Lumpkin observed. “Wilfred fit that description, and it falls to us to honor and carry forward his legacy.”

The CIMMYT community sends its heartfelt sympathy and prayers to Mwangi’s spouse, Mary, and children Mwangi, Wainaina, Kibiru and Wangui.

Mwangi will be buried in Nairobi on Tuesday, 23 December 2014. Family and friends will meet daily at the PCEA St. Andrews Church, junction of Nyerere and State House Roads, Nairobi, Kenya, during 16-19 December.

In communion with family members, Mexican and global partners and past colleagues, CIMMYT mourns the passing and celebrates the extraordinary life of Alejandro Ortega y Corona, former CIMMYT maize scientist who died in his native Mexico on 9 September at the age of 83. Ortega’s professional contributions include developing techniques to mass rear insects for use in insect-resistant maize breeding, as well as quality protein maize (QPM) improvement and screening techniques for heat and drought tolerance.

“Alex was an accomplished and dedicated entomologist and served as a mentor and an example of dedication to improving the lot of the poor, for many of us,” said Greg Edmeades, former leader of maize physiology at CIMMYT. “He believed we could make a difference in this world – and he did through his sheer hard work.”

A graduate in biology of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) in 1953, Ortega obtained a M.Sc. (1954) and a Ph.D. (1960) in Economic Entomology from Ohio State University. Among the first Mexican students to complete graduate studies outside of Mexico with Rockefeller Foundation support, during 1952-57 Ortega served in the Office of Special Studies, the joint Rockefeller Foundation-Mexican Ministry of Agriculture program where Norman E. Borlaug pursued the research that led to the Green Revolution and the creation of CIMMYT. After working during 1961-66 as head of entomology at Mexico’s national agricultural research institute (now the National Institute of Forestry, Agriculture and Livestock Research, known as INIFAP), Ortega joined the CIMMYT Maize Program in 1967, where he focused on entomology, physiology, breeding and pathology. In 1988 he left CIMMYT and worked for two years as a volunteer and later as a salaried researcher in INIFAP in northwestern Mexico. He worked on a number of things at INIFAP, including the development of heat-tolerant maize (one resulting hybrid, H431, is still popular in the region). Most recently, Ortega served as national coordinator for the Global Maize Project, a large effort to collect and document Mexican maize landraces during 2008-2011.[1] Ortega is also author of a 1987 CIMMYT field manual on insect pests of maize that is still used by researchers worldwide.

In August 2013 Ortega was honored for his service and contributions to maize drought and heat research at a special ceremony at CIMMYT’s Norman E. Borlaug Experiment Station (CENEB) in Ciudad Obregón. He was revered by staff at all levels, according to Martha Willcox, CIMMYT maize landrace coordinator who helped organize the CENEB event. “A former maize program secretary said Alex was the most polite scientist she ever worked for,” said Willcox. “Tractor drivers and field workers at the station took up a collection to give him a special, carved-wood statue of a Yaqui Indian dancer, after the ceremony.”

“Alejandro will always be remembered for his exemplary work in maize improvement at CIMMYT and INIFAP,” said Pedro Brajcich Gallegos, INIFAP director general. “He achieved results of national and international recognition, but he leaves a legacy of modesty and care for others. May he rest in peace.”

The CIMMYT community sends profound condolences to Ortega’s wife Eliavel and his children Lidia, Lucía, Alejandro Ortega González, Glenda, Alejandro Ortega Beltrán and Alejandra.

[1] Ortega Corona, A., M. de J. Guerrero Herrera and R.E. Preciado Ortiz (eds.). 2013. Diversidad y Distribución del Maíz Nativo y sus Parientes Silvestres en México. Mexico, D.F.: Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias (INIFAP).

The CIMMYT community and friends across the globe mourn the loss of maize breeder and distinguished scientist, Hugo Salvador Córdova Orellana, who died on 25 December 2009. Córdova worked for more than three decades with CIMMYT to improve the food security of disadvantaged maize farmers and consumers.

We have received word that Mrs. Bernie Hanson, wife of Haldore Hanson, CIMMYT’s second director general, died on April 4, 2007 at the age of 91. She would have been 92 on Sunday, August 19th.

Hal and Bernie were important “pioneers” in CIMMYT’s history. Shortly after arriving in Mexico in 1971, and with no desire to undergo a daily commute to Mexico City, Bernie set out to find property near Texcoco to build a home. She found a series of eight terraces that had probably been farmed since before the arrival of the Spaniards in San Nicolás Tlaminca. They sat at the base of Tezcotzingo, on top of which the Texcoco king, Nezahualcóyotl, had built a summer place. It was love at first sight. With her powers of persuasion, Bernie then convinced Arq. Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, one of Mexico’s most accomplished architects, to design and build their dream home. The house completed in 1972, became Hal and Bernie’s home for the next two decades.

Even with the CIMMYT director general living in the Texcoco area, the lack of a bilingual school discouraged many international staff from relocating closer to El Batán. So Bernie founded the Columbia School and recruited a number of expatriate women whose spouses were associated with CIMMYT and Chapingo, to teach there.

Bernie also played an important economic development role in San Nicolás. She was instrumental in encouraging greenhouse flower cultivation and helped to create a microfinance organization to support the smallholder growers. She is remembered with great fondness by many.

After Haldore’s death in 1992 Bernie returned to their farm near Leesburg, Virginia. Before leaving Mexico, she gifted the San Nicolás property to CIMMYT (two houses and 4 ha). Her condition was that all revenue derived from the property be deposited in a special fund, called the Hanson Fund, to provide educational scholarships for national CIMMYT staff.

CIMMYT extends its condolences to the two Hanson children, Signe and Eric, and thanks them for the many contributions that their parents made to international agriculture and development, to CIMMYT and to the larger Texcoco community.